The operating conditions in electricity distribution networks become more complex, as the changes in consumption patterns and the extension of retail electricity markets change the traditional demand patterns. As the industrial platforms near cities reduce their activity and the number of residential customers grows, there is an increasing need for voltage compensation and loss management in highly loaded MV and LV distribution networks supplying large residential communities. VAR compensation using capacitor banks remains a cost-effective solution for this problem. This paper presents an improved method for loss reduction in MV distribution networks, using an optimal placement of capacitor banks, with a recently proposed metaheuristic, the Sperm Whale Algorithm (SWA).