diff --git a/nilmdb/utils/__init__.py b/nilmdb/utils/__init__.py
index 7b63eeb..b26f78f 100644
--- a/nilmdb/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/nilmdb/utils/__init__.py
@@ -14,4 +14,3 @@ import nilmdb.utils.iterator
 import nilmdb.utils.interval
 import nilmdb.utils.lock
 import nilmdb.utils.sort
-import nilmdb.utils.unicode
diff --git a/nilmdb/utils/unicode.py b/nilmdb/utils/unicode.py
deleted file mode 100644
index fb3c9bb..0000000
--- a/nilmdb/utils/unicode.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-import sys
-
-if sys.version_info[0] >= 3: # pragma: no cover (future Python3 compat)
-    text_type = str
-else:
-    text_type = str
-
-def encode(u):
-    """Try to encode something from Unicode to a string using the
-    default encoding.  If it fails, try encoding as UTF-8."""
-    if not isinstance(u, text_type):
-        return u
-    try:
-        return u.encode()
-    except UnicodeEncodeError:
-        return u.encode("utf-8")
-
-def decode(s):
-    """Try to decode someting from string to Unicode using the
-    default encoding.  If it fails, try decoding as UTF-8."""
-    if isinstance(s, text_type):
-        return s
-    try:
-        return s.decode()
-    except UnicodeDecodeError:
-        try:
-            return s.decode("utf-8")
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            return s # best we can do