(Bloomberg) -- Businesses urged the UK government to provide more assurances that they will be supported through the worst energy crisis in decades after Prime Minister Liz Truss outlined a program to help with soaring costs.

Businesses, charities and public sector organizations will get “equivalent support” to that offered to households, Truss said Thursday. Yet while families will see their bills capped for two years, companies will initially be covered for just six months. After three months, a government review will decide how to target further support at “vulnerable industries.”

“This must not result in a cliff edge after six months,” said Martin McTague, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses. “Any future definition of ‘vulnerable industries’ will need to be broad, realistic and fair.”

McTague also called on the government to ensure that the smallest companies are given extra help. A government document seen by Bloomberg earlier in the week said ministers were keen to give local businesses, such as fish-and-chip shops, equal support to households.

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In her speech to Parliament, Truss named local pubs and other hospitality businesses as those likely to qualify for support beyond six months.

“Businesses cannot wait for three months to find out what support is planned nor can they wait until the end of the price freeze to receive it,“ said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of the UKHospitality trade group. Many bars and restaurants “will be forced to take difficult decisions“ if further details aren’t forthcoming, she added.

McTague said the government’s announcement was “sparse on detail” and that small firms needed to know what would happen to contracts that had already been agreed on at fixed prices. He said most energy contracts were arranged for 12 months, casting doubt on how a six-month cap would be applied.

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“The devil will now be in the detail to come,” Confederation of British Industry economist Rain Newton-Smith said. The British Chambers of Commerce welcomed the “quick and positive intervention” from the new government.

The Institute of Directors said it was concerned about the cost of the program, which will be funded by government borrowing and aims to limit the average annual household bill to £2,500 ($2,875). Families will still receive a £400 subsidy and save a further £150 from the temporary removal of green levies.

“What we need now is an external reassurance that the scale of the intervention does not jeopardize the public finances,” said Jonathan Geldart, the IoD‘s director general. The government did not provide an estimate of the overall cost of the energy support program. Bloomberg reported this week that the cost could reach as much as £200 billion were the intervention to last 18 months.

(Updates with additional comment from business groups in the eighth paragraph)

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