The optimal injection of reactive power to minimize power loss and manage voltage profiles is a difficult task that must be addressed and managed effectively for the power system's reliability. The distribution network indices like voltage stability, loss minimization, and power quality enhancement can be improved by the effective management of reactive power regulation. Aside from its interaction with reactive power management, the best location and sizing in a cost‐effective strategy have an impact on overall performance. As a broadly accepted swarm intelligence method in various engineering fields due to its simple assembly, less entails operator constraints, wild convergence speed, and better harmonizing ability between exploration and exploitation faces, the Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is used in conjunction with a Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) device in this paper to manage reactive power effectively. The WOA was implemented and compared with Differential Evolution (DE), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Genetic Algorithm (GA) at 100%, 150%, and 200% load in the IEEE 30 test system. The results reveal that the suggested WOA produces a greater impact on cost management, power loss, and reactive power balance than any previous evolutionary algorithm.