The paper describes a method for assessing the economic efficiency of wind energy utilization within small autonomous systems for both electricity and heat supply. The obtained analytical solution allows the simplification of calculations in comparison to the methods of chronological modeling and numerical algorithms for application of the convolution method. The economic effect of using wind turbines is assessed for remote communities of the extreme north of Russia with a maximum electric load of 200 kW for the turbines with a capacity from 30 to 800 kW, taking into account variation of possible growth rates of fossil fuel price for back-up sources of electric and heat energy. The calculations performed have shown that at the existing and forecasted rates of fuel price escalation, the economic effect of using surplus (as a result of mismatch in production and consumption) electric energy for heat supply will be 1.5-2.0 times higher. In this case, the optimal capacity of wind turbines can substantially exceed electric load power (two to four times). (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.