diff --git a/proxy/src/serverless/backend.rs b/proxy/src/serverless/backend.rs
index a40c66a80d..92a0957665 100644
--- a/proxy/src/serverless/backend.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/serverless/backend.rs
@@ -231,6 +231,10 @@ impl ConnectMechanism for TokioMechanism {
             .dbname(&self.conn_info.dbname)
             .connect_timeout(timeout);
 
+        config
+            .param("client_encoding", "UTF8")
+            .expect("client encoding UTF8 is always valid");
+
         let pause = ctx.latency_timer.pause(crate::metrics::Waiting::Compute);
         let res = config.connect(tokio_postgres::NoTls).await;
         drop(pause);
diff --git a/proxy/src/serverless/sql_over_http.rs b/proxy/src/serverless/sql_over_http.rs
index 9d6a475aeb..115945c984 100644
--- a/proxy/src/serverless/sql_over_http.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/serverless/sql_over_http.rs
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ fn get_conn_info(
             options = Some(NeonOptions::parse_options_raw(&value));
         }
     }
+    ctx.set_db_options(params.freeze());
 
     let user_info = ComputeUserInfo {
         endpoint,