Elman Neural Network is a typical neural-network which shares the characteristics of multiple-layer and dynamic recurrent, and it’s more suitable than BP Neural Network when it’s applied to forecast the short-term load with periodicity and similarity. To solve the problem that Elman Neural Network lacks learning efficiency, GA-Elman model is established by optimizing the weights and thresholds using Genetic Algorithm. An example is then given to prove the effectiveness of GA-Elman model, using the load data of a certain region. Relative error and MSE have been considered as criterions to analyze the results of load forecasting. By comparing the results calculated by BP, Elman and GA-Elman model, the effectiveness of GA-Elman model is verified, which will improve the accuracy of short-term load forecasting.