This study presents a new approach based on a hybrid algorithm consisting of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and pattern search (PS) techniques for solving the economic load dispatch problem. The objective is to minimize the nonlinear function, which is the total fuel cost of thermal generating units, subject to the usual constraints. The proposed method hybrid PSO–PS algorithm has been examined and tested for standard 15 thermal units system. The hybrid PSO–PS method is demonstrated and compared with conventional method and the intelligence heuristic algorithm. From simulation results, it has been found that hybrid PSO–PS algorithm method is highly competitive for its better general convergence performance.