use Encode;

# ... read the html file into $html, and then:

from_to( $html, "cp1252", "utf8" );

# now $html contains utf8 data instead of cp1252 data


##</code><code>##


open( HTML, "<:encoding(cp1252)", $filename );

# now text will be converted from cp1252 to utf8
# as it is read from the file.