Permanently increasing requirements in power supply necessitate efficient control of electric power systems. An emerging subject of importance is optimization. Papers on modelling aspects of unit commitment and optimal power flow provide the introduction to power systems control and to its associated problem statement. Due to the nature of the underlying optimization problems recent developments in advanced and well established mathematical programming methodologies are presented, illustrating in which way dynamic, separable, continuous and shastic features might be exploited. In completing the various methodologies a number of presentations have stated experiences with optimization packages currently used for unit commitment and optimal power flow calculations. This work represents a state-of-the-art of mathematical programming methodologies, unit commitment, optimal power flow and their applications in power system control.