Commission: Dying woman's power stays on pending review

(CNN) - Amid outrage triggered by the case of a cancer patient fighting to keep her electricity on to power her oxygen machine, the Public Utility Commission of Texas told CNN Wednesday it would review the situation.

CNN affiliate KHOU of Houston, Texas, said calls poured in all the way from Connecticut after the station aired its story on Mable Randon. Randon, who has stage 4 cancer, received a cutoff notice after she fell behind on her bills.

"I'm on a set income," she told KHOU. "My husband lost his job. He finds a little work every now and then but it's hard."

She applied to CenterPoint Energy's "Critical Care Program," aimed at maintaining service for people who depend on electric-powered life support systems, but was rejected.

"I'm fighting for my life and I thought people at the power company would help me," said Randon, who is confined to a wheelchair. "I just thought they'd make some kind of exception for me."

Terry Hadley, spokesman for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, told CNN Wednesday Randon's power would stay on until the commission examines the facts in the case.

CenterPoint told Randon she failed to meet the criteria. Spokeswoman Alicia Dixon told KHOU Randon could have bought a battery-powered oxygen machine. The critical care program has thousands of applicants, she said, and only 300 of them have been accepted.

"This program is a communication program, not a guarantee of uninterrupted power, even to customers who are on the list," she said.

Since the rejection, Randon said she is "up and down all night," partly because she is worried about whether the power will be on when she wakes up.

"They have no consideration for life," she said. "It's just like they don't care."

Contacted by CNN, CenterPoint spokeswoman Leticia Lowe said the company does not send electric bills; it merely owns the wires and poles, and is directed to disconnect power by retail electric providers.

Randon's electric company is Freedom Power, she said. Repeated attempts to contact Freedom Power by CNN were unsuccessful Wednesday. As of Tuesday, CenterPoint had not received a notice to from Freedom Power to disconnect Randon's service, Lowe said.

Following the KHOU report, CenterPoint received calls from viewers, she said, but can do nothing since they don't bill Randon.

–CNN's Divina Mims contributed to this report.