In this paper, a novel hybrid Differential Evolution (DE) and Pattern Search (PS) optimized fuzzy PI/PID controller is proposed for Load Frequency Control (LFC) of multi-area power system. Initially a two-area non-reheat thermal system is considered and the optimum gains of the fuzzy PI/PID controller are optimized employing a hybrid DE and PS (hDEPS) optimization technique. The superiority of the proposed controller is demonstrated by comparing the results with some recently published modern heuristic optimization techniques such as DE, Bacteria Foraging Optimization Algorithm (BFOA), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and conventional Ziegler Nichols (ZN) based PI controllers for the same interconnected power system. Furthermore, robustness analysis is performed by varying the system parameters and operating load conditions from their nominal values. It is observed that the optimum gains of the proposed controller need not be reset even if the system is subjected to wide variation in loading condition and system parameters. Additionally, the proposed approach is further extended to multi-area multi-source power system with/without HVDC link and the gains of fuzzy PID controllers are optimized using hDEPS algorithm. The superiority of the proposed approach is shown by comparing the results with recently published DE optimized PID controller and conventional optimal output feedback controller for the same power systems. Finally, Reheat turbine, Generation Rate Constraint (GRC) and time delay are included in the system model to demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach to handle nonlinearity and physical constraints in the system model. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.