Distribution System Automation (DSA) is being carried out very seriously world over to enhance the reliability of the system and to minimize the huge losses that are occurring in the Distribution System. Feeder Reconfiguration (FR) is an important sub-problem of the over all distribution system automation process. Basic concept of feeder reconfiguration is to arrive at the best set of sectionalizing switches to be opened for a given set of tie switch such that the system performance is enhanced. In this paper a novel criterion is developed based on the slope of the curve between the feeder losses verses receiving end voltage. Application of this criterion results in the most minimal loss configuration for any given loading condition. A general MATLAB program is developed to obtain the best switching option. The results have been validated by comparison with the civinlar's loss reduction method. Copyright © 2008 SAE International.