Voltage stability has recently become a challenging issue in many power systems. The distribution systems are reconfigured with a view to reduce the system losses and offer a better voltage profile for the utilities. This paper presents a new fuzzy based reconfiguration algorithm that enhances voltage stability and improves the voltage profile besides minimising losses, without incurring any additional cost for installation of capacitors, tap-changing transformers and related switching equipments in the distribution system. Test results on a 69-node distribution system reveal the superiority of this algorithm. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.