This paper studies the economical operation of cogeneration systems under emission control with NOx and SOx from fossil-fueled thermal generation. The emission model is formulated as a function of fuel enthalpy dependent on the emission factor. The objective function includes fuel cost, emission cost, and tie-line energy cost, subject to the use of mixed fuels, operational limits, and emission constraints. An evolutionary programming was adopted to solve this problem. The steams, fuel mix, and generations will be found by considering the time-of-use dispatch between cogeneration systems and utility companies. A real cogeneration system is given to illustrate the proposed method. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.