In the current released energy market, the large-scale complex transmission networks and the distribution ones with dispersed energy sources and "intelligent" components operate under uncertainties, stochastic and prior incomplete information. A safe and reliable operation of such complex power grids is a major issue for system operators. Under these circumstances an online reactive power management strategy with minimum risk concerning all uncertain and stochastic parameters is proposed. Therefore, new concepts such as reactive power-weighted node-to-node linking and reactive power control capability are introduced. A distributed and interconnected stochastic learning automata system is implemented to manage, in a unified and unique way, the reactive power in complex power grids with stochastic reactive power demand and detect the vulnerable part. The proposed simplified strategy can also consider more stochastic aspects such as variable grid's topology. Results of the proposed strategy obtained on the networks of IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 118-bus systems demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.