A new modeling technique for low‐pressure, low‐temperature discharges is introduced in which electrons, ions, and excited neutrals are equivalently treated using particle‐mesh algorithms. Heavy particles are represented as electrons in bound states having large effective masses and the appropriate charge. An effective density of states is used which has discrete negative energies representing bound states, and a positive continuum representing free electrons. Collisions between continuum electrons and heavy particles are computationally treated as electron–electron collisions. This method has been used as the kinetic portion of a hybrid kinetic‐fluid model for positive column electrical discharges. Densities and electric fields are obtained from the fluid portion of the model. Transport coefficients, source functions, and energy distributions for all species are generated in the kinetic module. The hybrid model has been used to examine electron energy distributions and radial electric fields in positive column discharges. Evidence is presented for diffusion heating of electrons in the sheaths. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.