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Curtailable loads (CLs) are regarded as one of the last lines of defence to maintain the security and stability of power systems. Nevertheless, if organised carefully, they can also be exploited as preventive security procurement measures for power systems. This is especially true for heavily loaded power systems in which the normal control schemes are already exhausted. In this study, a new power market approach is proposed to utilise CLs' potential in ensuring voltage stability margin (VSM) for heavily-loaded power systems. The proposed method aims to provide a mechanism to engage CLs as active players in the power market, and hence, minimise the disruptive effect of the load curtailment. Next, CLs participation in the power market is utilised to minimise the cost of achieving a desired level of VSM, at normal and N - 1 contingency conditions, in a preventive manner. The most efficient load curtailment and power generation pattern are determined, using a modified particle swarm optimisation algorithm, to minimise the system's total cost, while meeting grid's VSM requirements. The simulation results verify that the desired level of VSM can be effectively obtained using the proposed approach, with much less operational cost compared to the established methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]