diff --git a/package/powertop/Config.in b/package/powertop/Config.in
index 0f323a7bfb..fd88a3d0eb 100644
--- a/package/powertop/Config.in
+++ b/package/powertop/Config.in
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_POWERTOP
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # libnl
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_PCIUTILS
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBNL
 	help
 	  A tool to diagnose issues with power consumption and power
diff --git a/package/powertop/powertop.mk b/package/powertop/powertop.mk
index c3e8d2549c..e035868fa9 100644
--- a/package/powertop/powertop.mk
+++ b/package/powertop/powertop.mk
@@ -6,10 +6,16 @@
 
 POWERTOP_VERSION = 2.13
 POWERTOP_SITE = https://01.org/sites/default/files/downloads
-POWERTOP_DEPENDENCIES = pciutils ncurses libnl host-pkgconf \
-	$(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
 POWERTOP_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
 POWERTOP_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
+
+POWERTOP_DEPENDENCIES = \
+	host-pkgconf \
+	libnl \
+	ncurses \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_PCIUTILS),pciutils) \
+	$(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
+
 POWERTOP_CONF_ENV = LIBS=$(TARGET_NLS_LIBS)
 # 0001-dont-force-stack-smashing-protection.patch
 POWERTOP_AUTORECONF = YES