The robust stability and stabilization of adaptive event-triggered load frequency control (LFC) with sliding mode control (SMC) for multi-area power systems under a networked environment are investigated in this paper. The adaptive event-triggered scheme is proposed to maximize network bandwidth utilization, and it can be adaptively modified according to circumstances. Furthermore, to provide stronger robustness performance which is against the frequency deviation induced by power unbalance or transmission time delays, the SMC is developed. Then, the LFC scheme for multi-area power systems under the networked environment is modeled as a Markov jump linear system model, to describe the uncertainty parameters and external disturbances better in this system. Additionally, by employing Wirtinger-based inequality and Lyapunov theory, the robust stability and stabilization criteria with less conservatism are derived. Finally, simulations are performed to demonstrate the efficacy and superiority of the developed approach. INDEX TERMS Adaptive event-triggered scheme, load frequency control, networked communication, sliding mode control, Wirtinger-based inequality.