Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 05 April 2025
The Electricity Department of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has announced that consumers who currently hold their electricity security deposits with the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCB) can now transfer these deposits to any of the solvent Public Sector Banks operating in the Islands.
According to an official statement, the move has been approved by the competent authority and applies to all consumers of the department. The list of eligible banks includes: State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, UCO Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of India, and Bank of Maharashtra.
In addition, as per Section 5.136 of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) Regulations, 2018, titled “Review of Security Deposit,” the Electricity Department will annually review consumers’ electricity consumption (April–March) to revise the required security deposit amount. This revised amount will be equivalent to twice the average of the actual bills paid by the consumer during the previous financial year.
Consumers are required to deposit the revised security amount with any of the aforementioned Public Sector Banks either in the form of a bank guarantee or by providing a lien against a fixed deposit.
Once the new security deposit arrangement is established with one of the eligible banks and necessary documentation is submitted, consumers may request the release of their existing security deposit held with ANSCB. The Department will forward these requests to ANSCB, which will then return the deposit amount along with accrued interest directly to the consumers. (Story Based on PR)