diff --git a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
index b309e5636758..a8fe74c5cce4 100644
--- a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
+++ b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/codeInsight/intentions/PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention.java
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ public class PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention extends BaseIntentionAction
       element = element.getParent();
     }
     final LanguageLevel languageLevel = LanguageLevel.forElement(element);
+    final boolean useFormatMethod = languageLevel.isAtLeast(LanguageLevel.PYTHON27);
 
     NotNullFunction<String,String> escaper = StringUtil.escaper(false, "\"\'\\");
     StringBuilder stringLiteral = new StringBuilder();
@@ -122,7 +123,11 @@ public class PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention extends BaseIntentionAction
           quotes = PythonStringUtil.getQuotes(expression.getText());
           quotesDetected = true;
         }
-        stringLiteral.append(escaper.fun(((PyStringLiteralExpression)expression).getStringValue()));
+        String value = ((PyStringLiteralExpression)expression).getStringValue();
+        if (!useFormatMethod) {
+          value = value.replace("%", "%%");
+        }
+        stringLiteral.append(escaper.fun(value));
       } else {
         addParamToString(stringLiteral, paramCount, languageLevel);
         parameters.add(expression.getText());
@@ -137,7 +142,7 @@ public class PyStringConcatenationToFormatIntention extends BaseIntentionAction
     PyElementGenerator elementGenerator = PyElementGenerator.getInstance(project);
 
     if (!parameters.isEmpty()) {
-      if (LanguageLevel.forElement(element).isAtLeast(LanguageLevel.PYTHON27)) {
+      if (useFormatMethod) {
         stringLiteral.append(".format(").append(StringUtil.join(parameters, ",")).append(")");
 
       }
diff --git a/python/testData/intentions/afterStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py b/python/testData/intentions/afterStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1a9fa469aff7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/intentions/afterStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+string = "bar"
+some_string = "%%foo %s baz%%" % string
diff --git a/python/testData/intentions/beforeStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py b/python/testData/intentions/beforeStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a5cad1632a75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/testData/intentions/beforeStringConcatToFormatEscaping.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+string = "bar"
+some_string = "%foo " <caret>+ string + " baz%"
diff --git a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyIntentionTest.java b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyIntentionTest.java
index 4ae80397e92d..13ecb4392e5d 100644
--- a/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyIntentionTest.java
+++ b/python/testSrc/com/jetbrains/python/PyIntentionTest.java
@@ -358,6 +358,11 @@ public class PyIntentionTest extends PyTestCase {
     doTest(PyBundle.message("INTN.replace.plus.with.str.format"), LanguageLevel.PYTHON33);
   }
 
+  // PY-8588
+  public void testStringConcatToFormatEscaping() {
+    doTest(PyBundle.message("INTN.replace.plus.with.format.operator"));
+  }
+
   private void doDocStubTest(LanguageLevel languageLevel) {
     PythonLanguageLevelPusher.setForcedLanguageLevel(myFixture.getProject(), languageLevel);
     try {