''We lived in a cold, damp house and I was surprised that this could be happening in a country like New Zealand,'' Mrs McKague said.
The University of Otago postgraduate student has now been given the chance to do something about it, with up to $75,000 awarded to her by the Todd Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship in Energy Research.
Over the next three years she will be researching the issue and developing a new measure of fuel poverty specific to New Zealand.
She has already immersed herself in the subject, working with groups such as Presbyterian Support and Cosy Homes.
Mrs McKague said most of the measures of fuel poverty were based on studies done overseas but New Zealand had its own specific set of circumstances that cause people to be cold in their own homes.
''Our incomes are not increasing as much as living costs.''
She said when people were having to forgo proper heating in order to buy food or pay the rent, that was fuel poverty and that was a reality for nearly 30% of low-income households.
New Zealand relies on the United Kingdom definition of fuel poverty, which does not consider the high percentage of old housing, the over-representation of Maori and Pacific Islanders in socio-economic issues and the high proportion of people in rental properties.
Her study will look at who is ''fuel poor'' and why, in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
The scholarship is worth $25,000 each year for up to three years.
She said it was great that the Todd Foundation recognised the importance of social science and the human face of energy issues.
Mrs McKague, a Maldives citizen, is studying towards her PhD in marketing at the University of Otago.
She also has a master's degree in organisational psychology from the University of Waterloo in Canada and a bachelor's degree in psychology and human resource management from the University of Waikato.
