diff --git a/elements/puppet-stack-config/puppet-stack-config.pp b/elements/puppet-stack-config/puppet-stack-config.pp
index 9dcd76707..add810992 100644
--- a/elements/puppet-stack-config/puppet-stack-config.pp
+++ b/elements/puppet-stack-config/puppet-stack-config.pp
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ if str2bool(hiera('enable_telemetry', false)) {
   -> Exec['ceilo-gnocchi-upgrade']
 
   Cron <| title == 'ceilometer-expirer' |> { command =>
-    "sleep $((\$(od -A n -t d -N 3 /dev/urandom) % 86400)) && ${::ceilometer::params::expirer_command}" }
+    "sleep $((\$(od -A n -t d -N 3 /dev/urandom) \\% 86400)) && ${::ceilometer::params::expirer_command}" }
 
   # Aodh
   $aodh_dsn = match(hiera('aodh::db::database_connection'), $re_dsn)