diff --git a/src/sprio/sprio.c b/src/sprio/sprio.c
index 80a8f271a9620d2cffe8606ac95cefd8926bb8e6..f2e7f75498ad4cf6857349905a82a69f54f03d40 100644
--- a/src/sprio/sprio.c
+++ b/src/sprio/sprio.c
@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	error_code = _get_info(&req_msg, &resp_msg);
 
+	if (error_code) {
+		slurm_perror("Couldn't get priority factors from controller");
+		exit(error_code);
+	}
+
 	if (params.format == NULL) {
 		if (params.normalized) {
 			if (params.long_list)