The present invention is concerned with simplified configuration as well as supervision and testing of load restoration functions in high or medium voltage substations of electrical power transmission or distribution networks. The invention takes advantage of the fact that all information for load restoration is available from a standardized configuration representation and from dynamically observable events. Specifically, the IEC 61850 Substation Configuration Description (SCD) file includes the substation single line, the bus bar or breaker failure protection functionality related to it, and the way how reclosing commands can be conveyed for the restoration process. A load restore function or load transfer application observes the execution of a protection trip function and the concurrent connection state of the bays to bus bars in order to automatically restore the power flow across a failed bus bar segment to a parallel healthy bus bar segment.