diff --git a/ceilometer/publisher/udp.py b/ceilometer/publisher/udp.py
index 718161f07..4320b39a6 100644
--- a/ceilometer/publisher/udp.py
+++ b/ceilometer/publisher/udp.py
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ class UDPPublisher(publisher.PublisherBase):
         self.host, self.port = netutils.parse_host_port(
             parsed_url.netloc,
             default_port=cfg.CONF.collector.udp_port)
-        self.socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,
+        if netutils.is_valid_ipv6(self.host):
+            addr_family = socket.AF_INET6
+        else:
+            addr_family = socket.AF_INET
+        self.socket = socket.socket(addr_family,
                                     socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
 
     def publish_samples(self, context, samples):
diff --git a/ceilometer/tests/publisher/test_udp.py b/ceilometer/tests/publisher/test_udp.py
index 0f6ad0598..0461fa859 100644
--- a/ceilometer/tests/publisher/test_udp.py
+++ b/ceilometer/tests/publisher/test_udp.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 """
 
 import datetime
+import socket
 
 import mock
 import msgpack
@@ -112,6 +113,20 @@ class TestUDPPublisher(base.BaseTestCase):
         self.CONF = self.useFixture(fixture_config.Config()).conf
         self.CONF.publisher.telemetry_secret = 'not-so-secret'
 
+    def _check_udp_socket(self, url, expected_addr_family):
+        with mock.patch.object(socket, 'socket') as mock_socket:
+            udp.UDPPublisher(netutils.urlsplit(url))
+            mock_socket.assert_called_with(expected_addr_family,
+                                           socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
+
+    def test_publisher_udp_socket_ipv4(self):
+        self._check_udp_socket('udp://127.0.0.1:4952',
+                               socket.AF_INET)
+
+    def test_publisher_udp_socket_ipv6(self):
+        self._check_udp_socket('udp://[::1]:4952',
+                               socket.AF_INET6)
+
     def test_published(self):
         self.data_sent = []
         with mock.patch('socket.socket',