diff --git a/.pylintrc b/.pylintrc
index e634a21..a076c68 100644
--- a/.pylintrc
+++ b/.pylintrc
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 
 [MESSAGES CONTROL]
 disable=all
-enable=dangerous-default-value
+enable=dangerous-default-value,
+        unspecified-encoding
diff --git a/src/wuttjamaican/app.py b/src/wuttjamaican/app.py
index c7d0e23..28dddcc 100644
--- a/src/wuttjamaican/app.py
+++ b/src/wuttjamaican/app.py
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ class AppHandler:
         """
         output = template.render(**context)
         if output_path:
-            with open(output_path, 'wt') as f:
+            with open(output_path, 'wt', encoding='utf_8') as f:
                 f.write(output)
         return output
 
diff --git a/src/wuttjamaican/conf.py b/src/wuttjamaican/conf.py
index 3eff415..3c16e2d 100644
--- a/src/wuttjamaican/conf.py
+++ b/src/wuttjamaican/conf.py
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ class WuttaConfig:
         # re-write as temp file with "final" values
         fd, temp_path = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix='.ini')
         os.close(fd)
-        with open(temp_path, 'wt') as f:
+        with open(temp_path, 'wt', encoding='utf_8') as f:
             temp_config.write(f)
 
         # and finally, load that into our main config
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ class WuttaConfig:
         # write INI file and return path
         fd, path = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix='.conf')
         os.close(fd)
-        with open(path, 'wt') as f:
+        with open(path, 'wt', encoding='utf_8') as f:
             parser.write(f)
         return path
 
diff --git a/src/wuttjamaican/testing.py b/src/wuttjamaican/testing.py
index 5d34960..3ec7ae8 100644
--- a/src/wuttjamaican/testing.py
+++ b/src/wuttjamaican/testing.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ class FileTestCase(TestCase):
            myconf = self.write_file('my.conf', '<file contents>')
         """
         path = os.path.join(self.tempdir, filename)
-        with open(path, 'wt') as f:
+        with open(path, 'wt', encoding='utf_8') as f:
             f.write(content)
         return path