Economic load dispatch is a non-linear, complex and constrained optimization problem. In this paper a bio inspired meta-heuristic optimization technique namely novel bat algorithm is proposed for solving economic load dispatch problem. The results of three unit thermal system without losses and six units thermal system inclusive of losses had shown that novel bat algorithm had outperformed Lagrange relaxation, lambda iteration method, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, pattern search algorithm, modified bacterial foraging algorithm, intelligent water drop algorithm and traditional bat algorithm in term of the best global optimum solution and fastest convergence.