Protection of Power Supply Equipment: A Panacea for Effective Power Delivery to Consumers in Benue State University, Makurdi
1Iorbee Michael Mlahaga; 2Ajon, Ruben. A; 3Atem, John. A & 4Ejeh Emmanuel
Department of Vocational and Technical Education
Benue State University, Makurdi- Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to investigate the protection of power supply equipment, a panacea for effective power delivery to consumers with special reference to the protection of power facilities in Benue State University Makurdi. Three research question and one hypothesis were raised for the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design with total population of 20 respondents. A purposive sampling technique was used for the study. A self-developed questionnaire was employed to collect data for the study. The instrument was faced validated by three professionals. The reliability of the instrument was found to be 0.72. Data was collected through direct contact. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation; ANOVA was also used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level. The findings revealed that, protection of power supply equipment has a great impact on power supply. The study identified some major causes of power failure to include; the use of substandard of materials, overloading, and climate change among others. Provision of standard protective equipment and strengthening of security surveillance among others were also identified as ways of mitigating power failure on consumer premises. The study recommended equipment/system policy strategic techniques in protection of power facilities. These included stiffer penalty verdicts with reference to abrogation of option or fines and criminalizing the possession of copper materials. On equipment and system strategy policy, the study recommended that high capacity distribution transformers covering larger areas should be replaced with numerous smaller pole mounted power transformers with a view to making vandals’ access to it difficult and also that attacks on these transformers would become localized since resulting power outage would be limited to a smaller area.
Key words: Protection, Power Supply, Equipment
