BE9 captain reported climbing after ATC issued a low altitude alert on arrival to teb.

Attributes
ACN	1310115
Time
Date	201511
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	N90.TRACON
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	King Air C90 E90
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 3775 Flight Crew Type 50
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Miss Distance	Vertical 1300

Narrative:

ATC requested we descend and maintain 2000 ft asl. We read back 2000 ft and set it in the altitude alerter window and armed it. While on autopilot we commenced a descent to 2000 ft in VMC. Once level at 2000 ft the crew discussed the close vertical proximity to the terrain below. At this point ATC contacted us and stated that a low altitude warning had been triggered and questioned whether we were at 2500 ft. We stated that we were at 2000 ft; in VMC; and that we had been instructed to maintain 2000 ft as well as having read 2000 ft back to the controller. We were instructed and we complied; to climb and maintain 2500 ft. A few minutes later the controller apologized and stated it may have been their mistake. The flight continued without further incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE9 Captain reported climbing after ATC issued a low altitude alert on arrival to TEB.

Narrative: ATC requested we descend and maintain 2000 ft ASL. We read back 2000 ft and set it in the altitude alerter window and armed it. While on autopilot we commenced a descent to 2000 ft in VMC. Once level at 2000 ft the crew discussed the close vertical proximity to the terrain below. At this point ATC contacted us and stated that a low altitude warning had been triggered and questioned whether we were at 2500 ft. We stated that we were at 2000 ft; in VMC; and that we had been instructed to maintain 2000 ft as well as having read 2000 ft back to the controller. We were instructed and we complied; to climb and maintain 2500 ft. A few minutes later the controller apologized and stated it may have been their mistake. The flight continued without further incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.