diff --git a/TimeSeries.pm b/TimeSeries.pm
index 9d592ac..e8e4976 100644
--- a/TimeSeries.pm
+++ b/TimeSeries.pm
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ sub plot {
 
     # generic settings
 
+    print $ctlfh "set encoding utf8\n";
     if ($self->{output_format} eq 'svg') {
         print $ctlfh "set term $self->{output_format}\n";
     } else {