This work evaluates the performance of the Extended Equal area Criterion for power system transient stability assessment. The Extended Equal Area Criterion consists in replacing the multimachine power system by an equivalent two machine system, which is further reduced to a one- machine-infinite-bus system. The well-know Equal Area Criterion is then applied to the latter system. The time evolution of the one-machine-infinite-bus system is approximated by a truncated Taylor s series. The stability measures are computed by simple algebraic expressions and the transient stability margin. These measures are computed by simple algebraic expressions and the stability analysis is performed without any trial and error procedures. The results are compared to those obtained using a conventional transient stability program.