diff --git a/pysat/_instrument.py b/pysat/_instrument.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/pysat/_instrument.py
+++ b/pysat/_instrument.py
@@ -1176,7 +1176,7 @@ class Instrument(object):
 
         
                         
-    def to_netcdf4(self, fname=None, base_instrument=None, epoch_name='epoch', zlib=False):
+    def to_netcdf4(self, fname=None, base_instrument=None, epoch_name='Epoch', zlib=False):
         """Stores loaded data into a netCDF3/4 file.
         
         Parameters
diff --git a/pysat/utils.py b/pysat/utils.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/pysat/utils.py
+++ b/pysat/utils.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def set_data_dir(path=None, store=None):
         raise ValueError('Path does not lead to a valid directory.')
         
 
-def load_netcdf4(fnames=None, strict_meta=False, file_format=None, epoch_name='epoch',
+def load_netcdf4(fnames=None, strict_meta=False, file_format=None, epoch_name='Epoch',
                  units_label='units', name_label='long_name'):
                     # unix_time=False, **kwargs):
     """Load netCDF-3/4 file produced by pysat.
updated to Epoch from epoch