diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py b/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
index e8a7f945fde97242e2ba733a83846457a5f152d3..f6f620901c6b99bc320b2ae97e38fd9d3ef7d431 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, encoding='utf-8') as fid:
+        with open(filename) as fid:
             lines = fid.readlines()
         for l in lines:
             if l.lower().lstrip().startswith('continue_in_file'):
diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_files/htcfiles/continue_in_file.htc b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_files/htcfiles/continue_in_file.htc
index 4391a8dc856eb506094e1bd1a5e83e9fa3b043e9..a4f05b74e1e6a15aa9bbd3f93595bfec448e6bb9 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_files/htcfiles/continue_in_file.htc
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_files/htcfiles/continue_in_file.htc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-begin Simulation;
+begin Simulation; 
  time_stop 10 ;
   solvertype   1 ;    (newmark)
   on_no_convergence continue ;
diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
index 04eb5953ccc4781499791d5a3a2d1b7581579558..5699a1c488a33d93d818b1acc8d5b41543d97209 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
@@ -24,25 +24,25 @@ class TestHtcFile(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def check_htc_file(self, f):
 
-      with open(f) as fid:
-          orglines = fid.readlines()
-
-      htcfile = HTCFile(f)
-      newlines = str(htcfile).split("\n")
-      htcfile.save(self.testfilepath + 'tmp.htc')
-      #with open(self.testfilepath + 'tmp.htc') as fid:
-      #    newlines = fid.readlines()
-
-      for i, (org, new) in enumerate(zip(orglines, newlines), 1):
-          fmt = lambda x : x.strip().replace("\t", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ")
-          if fmt(org) != fmt(new):
-              print ("----------%d-------------" % i)
-              print (fmt(org))
-              print (fmt(new))
-              self.assertEqual(fmt(org), fmt(new))
-              break
-              print ()
-      assert len(orglines) == len(newlines)
+        with open(f) as fid:
+            orglines = fid.readlines()
+
+        htcfile = HTCFile(f)
+        newlines = str(htcfile).split("\n")
+        htcfile.save(self.testfilepath + 'tmp.htc')
+        #with open(self.testfilepath + 'tmp.htc') as fid:
+        #    newlines = fid.readlines()
+
+        for i, (org, new) in enumerate(zip(orglines, newlines), 1):
+            fmt = lambda x : x.strip().replace("\t", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ").replace("  ", " ")
+            if fmt(org) != fmt(new):
+                print ("----------%d-------------" % i)
+                print (fmt(org))
+                print (fmt(new))
+                self.assertEqual(fmt(org), fmt(new))
+                break
+                print ()
+        assert len(orglines) == len(newlines)
 
     def test_htc_files(self):
         for f in ['test3.htc']: