The multiconfiguration Hartree–Fock method for bound and continuum wavefunctions has been extended to investigate electron impact ionization of atoms. As a test case, the method is applied to calculate triple differential cross sections for electron impact ionization of H atom at an excess energy of 4 eV for the coplanar θ12 = π geometry. The results are obtained for both equal and unequal energies of the two outgoing electrons in the Hartree–Fock (HF) and screening potential (SP) approximations in order to determine the importance of electron correlation between the two outgoing electrons in the present configuration. At equal energies, both the HF and SP results are found to be very close to each other and are in very good agreement with the relative experimental measurements and other accurate theoretical calculations. At unequal energies, both calculated results also compare well with the relative experimental data over all ranges of θ1 considered by experiment.