The portion &Fgr;1of the ambipolar potential &Fgr; which produces an electric field in the flux surfaces of a stellarator is self‐consistently calculated, and its effect on stellarator transport at low collisionality is considered. The effect is small in a parameter &dgr;h, which is proportional to the square root of the ripple amplitude, &egr;h. However, since &dgr;hcan be an appreciable fraction of 1 for realistic parameters, the effect of &Fgr;1on transport can also be appreciable. Whether the effect is harmful or beneficial to confinement depends on the degree of pressure anisotropy and on the sign ofp⊥−p∥.