Try to set executable permissions for your script. Sometimes you need to do that to activate it.
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/sendshtmail
Also try to use absolute paths for your command, while quoting the other variable as well.
echo "${SHUTDOWNBODY}" | /usr/bin/mutt -s "${SHUTDOWNSUBJECT}" "${EMAIL}"
Another attempt is to switch your user to your current user e.g.
echo "${SHUTDOWNBODY}" | su -l -c "/usr/bin/mutt -s \"${SHUTDOWNSUBJECT}\" \"${EMAIL}\"" yourusername