This paper proposes a novel metaheuristic optimization methodology aimed at solving economic dispatch problem considering valve point loading effects. The proposed approach is based on a hybrid shuffled differential evolution (SDE) algorithm which combines the benefits of shuffled frog leaping algorithm and differential evolution. The SDE algorithm integrates a novel differential mutation operator specifically designed to effectively address the problem under study. In order to validate the proposed methodology, detailed simulation results obtained on three standard test systems are presented and discussed. A comparative analysis with other settled nature-inspired solution algorithms demonstrates the superior performance of the proposed methodology in terms of both solution accuracy and convergence performances. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.