The Truss government's "energy price guarantee" for households and "Energy Bill Relief Scheme" for everyone else aims to keep the bill pain at less than half the amount predicted for the winter ahead.

While the plans shelters us all from the eye-watering sums, there will be a price to pay eventually as the taxpayer is initially being placed on the hook for the support which could exceed the COVID-era bailout in scale.

Much depends on how high wholesale gas and electricity costs go in the coming months.

Here, Sky News explains how you will be helped in the months ahead.

Households

Last month it was announced that the energy price cap would rise to an average annual £3,549 in October from the current £1,971.

That will now not happen.

The cap will be superseded by the new price guarantee - a sum that will not exceed £2,500 from October for two years.

Helping bring that number back to the level of the current cap is the previously announced £400 discount for each household and a temporary removal of green levies, worth £150 a year, from bills.

The energy price guarantee covers the vast majority of households - around 24 million who pay for their gas and electricity by direct debit.

What this announcement does not mean is that you will not pay more for your gas and electricity. It is an average sum based on unit prices so the more you use, the more you will pay.

What the Treasury is doing is effectively covering the difference between (soaring) wholesale prices that will exceed the household bill 'guarantee' level of £2,500.

I am not currently covered by the price cap. Do I benefit?

A fraction of households are on time-limited fixed price deals.

There are 4.5 million on pre-payment meters who currently pay around 5% more than those under the price cap.

The same comparable level of discount will apply across all current variable and fixed rate tariffs.

Some may have to pay a penalty to exit their fixed deals, assuming it is financially beneficial to do so.

Those who do not directly pay for their energy, such as people living in park homes, will be also be helped.

"Additional funding will be made available so that £400 payments will be extended to include people such as park home residents and those tenants whose landlords pay for their energy via a commercial contract", the government said.

It revealed plans to introduce legislation to make sure landlords pass discounts on to tenants who pay all-inclusive bills.

Properties on heating oil will also benefit to the tune of a £100 grant.

It was also later confirmed that a Northern Ireland Energy Price Guarantee would offer households the same level of gas and electricity bill support as the equivalent scheme in Great Britain.

Businesses

Firms have had no shield from rising energy prices unless they had or have a fixed deal.

The toll has led to typical five-fold increases in energy costs - worse for energy intensive companies.

Some of those additional costs have contributed markedly to inflation as they have been passed down the supply chain to consumers in the goods and services we use. Think food, attractions and transport.

What the government said on Wednesday was that the wholesale cost of gas and electricity will be slashed for companies under a scheme which will run for six months starting in October.

The "supported wholesale price" is expected to be £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas.

This is around half the expected wholesale price on the open market and equivalent to the cap on household energy bills.

Organisations which signed fixed-price energy deals on or before April 1 this year will see the wholesale part of their bill capped automatically.

Those who entered new fixed-price contracts after October 1 will get the same support.

Companies on default, deemed or variable tariffs will be given a per-unit discount, but the amount of support they can get is limited.

This means that if the price on wholesale gas and electricity markets keeps soaring, their bills will go beyond those on fixed-price deals.

The Government said it was working with suppliers to ensure they offer businesses the opportunity to switch to a fixed contract.

The level of support offered to companies with flexible purchase contracts, which include some of the biggest energy users, will also be capped.

The big unknown is what will happen from April but Ms Truss said that the most vulnerable business customers, including pubs and shops, could expect further aid.