This survey covers the broad area of evolutionary computation applications to optimization, model identification, and control in power systems. Due to space limitation, all reviewed papers have been selected since 1996, from IEEE Transactions only. A total of 85 articles are listed in this survey. It shows the development of the area and identifies current trends. The following techniques are considered under the scope of evolutionary computation: evolutionary algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, evolutionary programming, and genetic programming), simulated annealing, tabu search, and particle swarm optimization.