This paper presents a new practical criterion for voltage stability based on the real-time information at the substation and the quasi-time information from power system.By using the criterion,it is effective to predict the bus voltage stability margin.This is of great importance to raise the security operation level and prevent voltage collapse.The practical criterion for voltage stability is tested on the IEEE-14-bus test system.It needs less calculation time and is very suitable for real-time control of power systems.