diff --git a/documentation/changelog.rst b/documentation/changelog.rst
index 977ce66cf..02a5933cb 100644
--- a/documentation/changelog.rst
+++ b/documentation/changelog.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Bugfixes
 Infrastructure / Support
 ----------------------
 * FlexMeasures plugins can be Python packages now. We provide `a cookie-cutter template <https://github.com/SeitaBV/flexmeasures-plugin-template>`_ for this approach. [see `PR #182 <http://www.github.com/SeitaBV/flexmeasures/pull/182>`_]
+* Set default timezone for new users using the FLEXMEASURES_TIMEZONE config setting [see `PR #190 <http://www.github.com/SeitaBV/flexmeasures/pull/190>`_]
 
 
 v0.6.1 | September XX, 2021
diff --git a/flexmeasures/data/scripts/cli_tasks/data_add.py b/flexmeasures/data/scripts/cli_tasks/data_add.py
index e013d060f..0ca3fe317 100755
--- a/flexmeasures/data/scripts/cli_tasks/data_add.py
+++ b/flexmeasures/data/scripts/cli_tasks/data_add.py
@@ -99,11 +99,14 @@ def new_account(name: str, roles: List[str]):
 @click.option("--roles", help="e.g. anonymous,Prosumer,CPO")
 @click.option(
     "--timezone",
-    default="UTC",
-    help="timezone as string, e.g. 'UTC' or 'Europe/Amsterdam'",
+    help="timezone as string, e.g. 'UTC' or 'Europe/Amsterdam' (defaults to FLEXMEASURES_TIMEZONE config setting)",
 )
 def new_user(
-    username: str, email: str, account_id: int, roles: List[str], timezone: str
+    username: str,
+    email: str,
+    account_id: int,
+    roles: List[str],
+    timezone: Optional[str],
 ):
     """
     Create a FlexMeasures user.
@@ -111,6 +114,11 @@ def new_user(
     The `users create` task from Flask Security Too is too simple for us.
     Use this to add email, timezone and roles.
     """
+    if timezone is None:
+        timezone = app.config.get("FLEXMEASURES_TIMEZONE")
+        print(
+            f"Setting user timezone to {timezone} (taken from FLEXMEASURES_TIMEZONE config setting)..."
+        )
     try:
         pytz.timezone(timezone)
     except pytz.UnknownTimeZoneError: