diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ad1f05e7962fa..4404a58147b1a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 ### Features
 - [#150](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/150): Add Host Uptime metric to system plugin
 - [#158](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/158): Apache Plugin. Thanks @KPACHbIuLLIAnO4
+- [#159](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/159): Use second precision for InfluxDB writes
 - [#165](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/165): Add additional metrics to mysql plugin. Thanks @nickscript0
+- [#162](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/162): Write UTC by default, provide option
 - [#166](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/166): Upload binaries to S3
 
 ### Bugfixes
diff --git a/agent.go b/agent.go
index e54b7e863434b..3b58640d973df 100644
--- a/agent.go
+++ b/agent.go
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ type Agent struct {
 	// Interval at which to gather information
 	Interval Duration
 
-	// Run in debug mode?
+	// Option for outputting data in UTC
+	UTC bool `toml:"utc"`
+
+	// Option for running in debug mode
 	Debug    bool
 	Hostname string
 
@@ -43,8 +46,13 @@ type Agent struct {
 
 // NewAgent returns an Agent struct based off the given Config
 func NewAgent(config *Config) (*Agent, error) {
-	agent := &Agent{Config: config, Interval: Duration{10 * time.Second}}
+	agent := &Agent{
+		Config:   config,
+		Interval: Duration{10 * time.Second},
+		UTC:      true,
+	}
 
+	// Apply the toml table to the agent config, overriding defaults
 	err := config.ApplyAgent(agent)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -199,7 +207,11 @@ func (a *Agent) crankParallel() error {
 
 	var bp BatchPoints
 	bp.Time = time.Now()
+	if a.UTC {
+		bp.Time = bp.Time.UTC()
+	}
 	bp.Tags = a.Config.Tags
+	bp.Precision = "s"
 
 	for sub := range points {
 		bp.Points = append(bp.Points, sub.Points...)
@@ -223,8 +235,12 @@ func (a *Agent) crank() error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	bp.Time = time.Now()
 	bp.Tags = a.Config.Tags
+	bp.Time = time.Now()
+	if a.UTC {
+		bp.Time = bp.Time.UTC()
+	}
+	bp.Precision = "s"
 
 	return a.flush(&bp)
 }
@@ -250,6 +266,10 @@ func (a *Agent) crankSeparate(shutdown chan struct{}, plugin *runningPlugin) err
 
 		bp.Tags = a.Config.Tags
 		bp.Time = time.Now()
+		if a.UTC {
+			bp.Time = bp.Time.UTC()
+		}
+		bp.Precision = "s"
 
 		if err := a.flush(&bp); err != nil {
 			outerr = errors.New("Error encountered processing plugins & outputs")
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 19ebc00bf8d8d..19f50722cc60f 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -131,10 +131,11 @@ func (c *Config) ApplyOutput(name string, v interface{}) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// ApplyAgent loads the toml config into the given interface
-func (c *Config) ApplyAgent(v interface{}) error {
+// ApplyAgent loads the toml config into the given Agent object, overriding
+// defaults (such as collection duration) with the values from the toml config.
+func (c *Config) ApplyAgent(a *Agent) error {
 	if c.agent != nil {
-		return toml.UnmarshalTable(c.agent, v)
+		return toml.UnmarshalTable(c.agent, a)
 	}
 
 	return nil
@@ -352,7 +353,10 @@ var header = `# Telegraf configuration
 
 # Configuration for telegraf itself
 [agent]
+	# # Default data collection interval for all plugins
 	# interval = "10s"
+	# # If utc = false, uses local time
+	# utc = true
 	# debug = false
 	# hostname = "prod3241"