The objective of this paper is to develop a computationally efficient and generalised algorithm for the load flow calculation in an active distribution network. The available techniques for the active distribution load flow calculation have limited scope of application and, sometimes, suffer from computational complexity. The applicability of an existing technique remains limited either by DG control modes or by transformer configurations. In this paper, the load flow calculation is carried out by using the concept of Gauss-Zbus iterations, wherein the DG buses are modeled via the technique of power/current compensation. The specific distinctness of the proposed Gauss-Zbus formulation lies in overcoming the limitations imposed by DG control modes for the chosen DG bus modelling as well as in having optimized computational performance. The entire load flow calculation is carried out in the symmetrical component domain by decoupling all the sequence networks. Furthermore, a generalised network modelling is carried out to define decoupled and tap-invariant sequence networks along with maintaining the integrity of the zero sequence network under any transformer configurations.The computational efficiency and accuracy of the methodology proposed are verified through extensive case studies. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.