diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack.rb
index 1d9931ccc..f07a3d687 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack.rb
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ Puppet::Type.type(:nova_aggregate).provide(
   end
 
   def self.pythondict2hash(input)
-    return JSON.parse(input.gsub(/u'([^']*)'/, '"\1"').gsub(/'/, '"'))
+    return JSON.parse(input.gsub(/'/, '"'))
   end
 
   def self.parsestring(input)
diff --git a/spec/unit/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack_spec.rb b/spec/unit/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack_spec.rb
index 0ffb9a93b..1e67e8ae6 100644
--- a/spec/unit/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/provider/nova_aggregate/openstack_spec.rb
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ hosts="[u\'example\']"
 
     describe '#pythondict2hash' do
       it 'should return a hash with key-value when provided with a unicode python dict' do
-        s = "{u'key': 'value', u'key2': 'value2'}"
+        s = "{'key': 'value', 'key2': 'value2'}"
         expect(described_class.pythondict2hash(s)).to eq({"key"=>"value", "key2"=>"value2"})
       end
 
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ hosts="[u\'example\']"
       end
 
       it 'should call pythondict2hash when provided with a hash' do
-        s = "{u'key': 'value', u'key2': 'value2'}"
+        s = "{'key': 'value', 'key2': 'value2'}"
         expect(described_class.parsestring(s)).to eq({"key"=>"value", "key2"=>"value2"})
       end
     end