The Circuit Court of Cook County has granted a preliminary injunction on preventing the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) from releasing the final NextGrid grid modernization study on the future of electric utility regulations in Illinois.

The court blocked release of a final report until the conclusion of an ongoing lawsuit from Illinois PIRG Education Fund that alleges the NextGrid study process violated the Open Meetings Act by what the complainants alleged was, "illegally closing meetings to the public and press in its 'NextGrid' study to shape future of electric utility regulations in Illinois."

Victoria Crawford, Senior Public Information Officer for the Illinois Commerce Commission, said in a statement that, "The court’s ruling does not address the merits of the case, it merely maintains the status quo of the litigation. The ICC respects and appreciates the hard work done by the Lead Facilitators from the University of Illinois, the Working Group Leaders, and the approximately 250 organizations who participated in the NextGrid study. We will continue to defend against this litigation in court."

As previously reported, a draft of the NextGrid study did not contain any policy recommendations, though it did recommend prioritizing the study of three issues (see story here)