diff --git a/misc/admin/koha-preferences b/misc/admin/koha-preferences
index 11cbc42dc7..1cb866f5ba 100755
--- a/misc/admin/koha-preferences
+++ b/misc/admin/koha-preferences
@@ -19,19 +19,16 @@
 #
 
 use Modern::Perl;
-use Koha::Script;
-use C4::Context;
-use C4::Log;
 use Getopt::Long;
 use Pod::Usage;
 use YAML::XS;
 
-use Koha::Logger;
-
 use Koha::Database;
 
 our %NOT_SET_PREFS = map { $_, 1 } qw( Version );
 
+my $lazy_loaded;
+
 =head1 NAME
 
 koha-preferences - Get, set, dump and load Koha system preferences
@@ -42,6 +39,21 @@ misc/admin/koha-preferences COMMAND ...
 
 =cut
 
+sub _lazy_load_modules {
+    if (!$lazy_loaded){
+        #NOTE: "use" runs at compile time, so require/import() must be used instead
+        require Koha::Script;
+        Koha::Script->import();
+        require C4::Context;
+        C4::Context->import();
+        require C4::Log;
+        C4::Log->import;
+        require Koha::Logger;
+        Koha::Logger->import;
+        $lazy_loaded = 1;
+    }
+}
+
 sub print_usage {
     my ( $annoyed ) = @_;
 
@@ -215,6 +227,7 @@ my %commands = (
     },
     load => sub {
         my ( $infile, $force_version );
+        _lazy_load_modules();
 
         GetOptions(
             'i:s' => \$infile,
@@ -246,6 +259,7 @@ my %commands = (
     },
     set => sub {
         my ( $preference, $value ) = @_;
+        _lazy_load_modules();
 
         print_usage() unless ( $preference && defined($value) );
 
@@ -253,6 +267,7 @@ my %commands = (
     },
     clear => sub {
         my ( $preference ) = @_;
+        _lazy_load_modules();
 
         print_usage() unless ( $preference );