FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) — The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has rejected NIPSCO’s proposal to recover costs for a series of natural gas infrastructure upgrades in northern Indiana for a second time.

According to our partners in news, 21Alive, the commission voted Wednesday to deny NIPSCO’s request to reconsider a portion of the plan focused on rural gas line upgrades.

NIPSCO initially proposed spending $741 million over five years to upgrade natural gas lines across northern Indiana. The utility revised the proposal in August, cutting more than $100 million from the original plan after the commission rejected it earlier that month.

The revised plan still faced opposition from regulators. NIPSCO later asked the commission to reconsider approximately $200 million in rural upgrades, but that request was also denied.

The commission determined NIPSCO had not demonstrated that the proposed projects were necessary.

NIPSCO can still make infrastructure improvements, but the rejected proposal would have allowed the utility to recover the associated costs from customers through their bills.

The decision means NIPSCO cannot use the rejected plan to begin collecting those costs from customers.