diff --git a/greg/management/commands/stop_notification_publisher.py b/greg/management/commands/stop_notification_publisher.py
index 95e419584901f48b5d33f13585d8f55595109aab..037702857bb59177362cc548e77c18a84bdf68c1 100644
--- a/greg/management/commands/stop_notification_publisher.py
+++ b/greg/management/commands/stop_notification_publisher.py
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     def handle(self, *args, **options):
         try:
-            with open(settings.NOTIFICATION_PUBLISHER["daemon"]["pid_file"], "r") as f:
+            with open(
+                settings.NOTIFICATION_PUBLISHER["daemon"]["pid_file"],
+                "r",
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            ) as f:
                 pid = int(f.read().strip())
 
             os.kill(pid, signal.SIGINT)
diff --git a/greg/management/commands/stop_schedule_tasks.py b/greg/management/commands/stop_schedule_tasks.py
index ba8af1cd1a9a35c6f0fa20f7de0d937e57395d19..b04f12e0bb2329d86e4203614a2d9c80fbecf0f7 100644
--- a/greg/management/commands/stop_schedule_tasks.py
+++ b/greg/management/commands/stop_schedule_tasks.py
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     def handle(self, *args, **options):
         try:
-            with open(settings.SCHEDULE_TASKS["daemon"]["pid_file"], "r") as f:
+            with open(
+                settings.SCHEDULE_TASKS["daemon"]["pid_file"],
+                "r",
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            ) as f:
                 pid = int(f.read().strip())
 
             os.kill(pid, signal.SIGINT)