This paper proposes a multi-layer multi-agent model for the performance evaluation of power systems, which is different from the existing multi-agent ones. To describe the impact of the structure of the networked power system, .the proposed model consists of three kinds of agents that form three layers: control agents such as the generators and associated controllers, information agents to exchange the information based on the wide area measurement system (WAMS) or transmit control signals to the power system stabilizers (PSSs), and network-node agents such as the generation nodes and load nodes connected with transmission lines. An optimal index is presented to evaluate the performance of damping controllers to the system’s inter-area oscillation with respect to the information-layer topology.Then, the authors show that the inter-area information exchange is more powerful than the exchange within a given area to control the inter-area low frequency oscillation based on simulation analysis.