International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) Vol. 9, No. 4, August 2019, pp. 2803~2812 ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v9i4.pp2803-2812  2803 Journal homepage: http://iaescore.com/journals/index.php/IJECE Power distribution system fault monitoring device for supply networks in Nigeria Olalekan Kabiru Kareem 1 , Aderibigbe Israel Adekitan 2 , Ayokunle Awelewa 3 1 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria 2,3 Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Received Jul 14, 2018 Revised Dec 18, 2018 Accepted Jan 10, 2019 Electric power is the bedrock of our modern way of life. In Nigeria, power supply availability, sufficiency and reliability are major operational challenges. At the generation and transmission level, effort is made to ensure status monitoring and fault detection on the power network, but at the distribution level, particularly within domestic consumer communities there are no fault monitoring and detection devices except for HRC fuses at the feeder pillar. Unfortunately, these fuses are sometimes replaced by a copper wire bridge at some locations rendering the system unprotected and creating a great potential for transformer destruction on overload. This study is focused on designing an on-site power system monitoring device to be deployed on selected household entry power cables for detecting and indicating when phase off, low voltage, high voltage, over current, and blown fuse occurs on the building’s incomer line. The fault indication will help in reducing troubleshooting time and also ensure quick service restoration. After design implementation, the test result confirms design accuracy, device functionality and suitability as a low-cost solution to power supply system fault monitoring within local communities. Keywords: Energy supply reliability Fault detection Power distribution network Power system protection System monitoring Copyright © 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved. Corresponding Author: Aderibigbe Israel Adekitan, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University, Km 10, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. Email: ade_kitan@yahoo.com 1. INTRODUCTION Adequate power supply is a major challenge in Nigeria; the most populous country in Africa due to insufficient energy generation [1, 2]. The peak power that was generated on August 31, 2018 stood at 4341 MW [3], and this is just about a fraction of the estimated national energy requirement of 31,000 MW, with an expected 10% yearly increase [4]. Alternative energy sources such as waste to energy, wind energy and solar energy need to be developed to support the current power generation [5-7]. Ensuring every customer gets a reasonable share of the meagre energy is a daunting task which is achieved via load shedding and power outages [8]. Frequent switching on and off, of power supply creates line stability issues which also induces line faults [9]. A power supply system consists of generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of electric power. Power supply networks are prone to operational faults like short circuits, line to line faults, floating neutral issues, overloading, line voltage fluctuations, lightning strikes etc. [10-12]. Power stability and quality issues affect the operation and efficiency of equipment e.g. in induction motors, voltage unbalance creates imbalance currents which results in torque and power pulsations [13-16]. Preventing excessive damage when these faults occur requires the installation of line protective devices. In Nigeria, some effort has been made by deploying protection systems and monitoring scheme in the operation, protection and