diff --git a/ceilometer/utils.py b/ceilometer/utils.py
index ae734b692c..6f49165b91 100644
--- a/ceilometer/utils.py
+++ b/ceilometer/utils.py
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ from concurrent import futures
 from futurist import periodics
 from oslo_concurrency import processutils
 from oslo_config import cfg
-from oslo_utils import timeutils
 from oslo_utils import units
 import six
 
@@ -124,18 +123,6 @@ def decimal_to_dt(dec):
     return daittyme.replace(microsecond=int(round(micro)))
 
 
-def sanitize_timestamp(timestamp):
-    """Return a naive utc datetime object.
-
-    :returns: a timezone unaware timestamp
-    """
-    if not timestamp:
-        return timestamp
-    if not isinstance(timestamp, datetime.datetime):
-        timestamp = timeutils.parse_isotime(timestamp)
-    return timeutils.normalize_time(timestamp)
-
-
 def dict_to_keyval(value, key_base=None):
     """Expand a given dict to its corresponding key-value pairs.