After receiving her letter, Whalley rang her power company to ensure their power would stay on.
Council general manager planning and infrastructure David Bewley said the council had no plans to shut off power to any occupied property at the fanhead as the council treated "lifeline services" such as power and water as critical.
"It can be a tricky process to decommission power during a property transfer in a way that does not inconvenience the owner or, in this instance, result in delays for contractors who need to work safely on-site when the house has been vacated," Bewley said.
"Because of this, and as the project has evolved, the council and our power company have been streamlining the system to make it more efficient for all involved."
Bewley said the council had provided the power company with a list of all properties that the council might buy within the fanhead but "regrettably" the information was passed on as a request to transfer suppliers now, not recognising council did not own all of the properties.
"We have contacted each of the affected landowners to unreservedly apologise to them for the letters," he said.
"We have explained there was never any intention from council to cut off power or require owners to move to council's power company. There was a communication error and is unrelated to the timing of the plan changes."
However, Whalley believed this was just one more example of the council breaching residents' privacy and making mistakes that caused massive stress to already vulnerable residents.
"They always seem to be making these mistakes, which conveniently put more people under stress and encourage them to leave because they are fed up."
Whalley believed the council was simply progressing a predetermined outcome thgat would then influence any decisions made at the upcoming plan change hearings in March.
What is the managed retreat?
The Awatarariki community in Matata was struck by a debris flow in 2005 that destroyed several homes.
For the next seven years the Whakatane District Council searched for an engineering solution to reduce the risk for residents living in the affected area should it happen again. During this time, residents rebuilt and moved back into the area.
However, the council abandoned its engineering plans in 2012 and instead focused on buying residents out of their homes and rezoning the land from residential to coastal protection through its managed retreat process.
The managed retreat process is estimated to cost $15 million. Whakatane District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Government are each contributing $5m to this.
Residents are "voluntarily" entering the process, which could result in them being forced from their homes before the plan change hearing has been held.
The Awatarariki Residents' Association does not believe this process is voluntary and believes residents have been forced into the programme under duress.
Part of this is that there may be no compensation if residents are forced from their homes after the plan change hearing and most are not willing to gamble their future on this and are instead opting to sell to the council and move while money is guaranteed.
Some residents want to move.
The plan change hearings will be held from March 2 to 6 and will focus on two potential plan changes.
The first, a change to the district plan will simply stop any further residential development on the fanhead but current residents may stay.
The second, a change to the Regional Natural Resources Plan, would prevent all residential activity and residents would have to leave.
The second plan change, plan change 17, has never been used before to end existing use rights and will set a precedent in New Zealand if successful.
Councillors meet affected residents
As the Awatarariki plan change hearings draw close, Rick, Rachel and Pam Whalley extended an invitation to all Whakatane district elected members to meet them and hear their concerns about the managed retreat process.
Four of the 11 elected members attended – John Pullar, Lesley Immink, Victor Luca and Wilson James.
Rachel Whalley said the meeting was a chance for the family to discuss their concerns directly with councillors before the plan change hearings.
"It was great to have all new councillors because they haven't been involved in the process from the start," Whalley said.
"They didn't realise that while commissioners at the plan change hearing can make recommendations, they can vote on the recommendations from plan change one and can also stop the plan change hearing for plan change 17 at any time."
The Whalley family have raised concerns around what they see as breaches of their human rights, an unnecessary burden on ratepayers, intimidation and manipulation.
Councillor Victor Luca said the meeting with the Whalleys went well and was instructive for him as a new councillor as a lot of the issues went back 15 years.
"There are always two sides and we owe it to them to get their point of view," Luca said.
"I have now been trawling through all the reports; there is a massive amount of information there. I stood on a campaign platform of taking a scientific approach, of looking at data and doing my homework and that's what I've been doing."
Luca said he didn't have an opinion on the managed retreat yet as he wanted to complete his research first.
"The job is about engaging and listening. If anyone wants to have a meeting with me, I won't say no," he said.
Councillor Wilson James had a similar point of view and said it was a duty of councillors to meet ratepayers.
"They explained their side of it, and we listened," James said.
"It's now time for me to find out a bit more from council."
James said it was a worthwhile meeting.
