diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py b/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
index f6f620901c6b99bc320b2ae97e38fd9d3ef7d431..e8a7f945fde97242e2ba733a83846457a5f152d3 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class HTCFile(HTCContents, HTCDefaults):
     def readlines(self, filename):
         self.htc_inputfiles.append(filename)
         htc_lines = []
-        with open(filename) as fid:
+        with open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as fid:
             lines = fid.readlines()
         for l in lines:
             if l.lower().lstrip().startswith('continue_in_file'):