The fate of Rachel Reeves’ support package will be decided far from 11 Downing Street - Matt Gibson

Her Energy Price Guarantee capped all domestic bills at £2500, providing protection for every home in the country. But this broadbrush approach came at a huge cost - £44 billion, or around three quarters of the UK defence budget.

It drew criticism for being untargeted, with the wealthiest homes receiving the same support as the poorest.

“The largely universal nature of the scheme meant some people who did not need the money still received it”, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts found.

Fast forward almost four years and a Labour government finds itself in a similar predicament – soaring prices caused by an overseas war with no immediate end in sight.

It is set to adopt a different solution. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested any help will be means tested, explaining energy bill support would likely be aimed at “those who need it most”.

She branded the Tory approach “an unfunded, untargeted package of support”, adding: “We must learn from the mistakes of the past”.

So did Ms Truss really get it so wrong? Or is Ms Reeves excluding the suffering middle classes from any support should bills soar?

While the situations facing Ms Truss and Ms Reeves have similarities, they are far from identical.

Under Ms Truss, average bills for gas and electricity were set to rise from £1,277 in winter 2021/2022 to more than £4000 by the start of 2023.

Although oil prices are soaring today because of the war in Iran, households are protected until July by the Ofgem price cap of £1,641.

Forecasters for Cornwall Insight predict it is then likely to rise to £1,973 – a steep increase, but still far below the costs following the Ukraine invasion.

The time of year also plays a part. Truss made her announcement in September, just as the nation’s heating was set to be fired up.

Time was of the essence, she might argue, and the Committee of Public Accounts has said her scheme “deserves credit for the speed with which it provided financial support, ensuring it protected many consumers from the extremes of these price increases”.

Further, her Government did not have sufficient information to engineer a more targeted scheme, even had it wanted to. A key recommendation of the Committee was that plans should be drawn up for how such a scheme might be delivered.

For Ms Reeves, in contrast, the crisis comes just as winter ends. This gives the Government a little more breathing space before heating use increases.

She has already told MPs that she intends to use the time “to ensure that we are in a position in the autumn to have a targeted approach”.

Political differences aside, the nation would struggle to afford another universal bailout.

Jeremy Hunt, who took over as Tory Chancellor the month after Truss announced her support package, has warned that attempting a repeat “could end up doing colossal economic damage”.

Speaking in the Commons, he said the Chancellor should be “less partisan at a time of crisis” but welcomed her “targeted rather than universal approach”.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also said a targeted approach to household energy bill support was the right one, explaining: “This is not the time for knee-jerk, unsustainable solutions that could harm the UK’s public finances.”

But it’s one thing to announce plans when the sun is shining and hopes of a swift end to the Middle East conflict remain.

It may be another if, come winter, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and the price of oil stays sky-high.

Whether the Chancellor’s support package will be enough to satisfy everyone is likely to be decided a long way from 11 Downing Street.