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LONDON — Liz Truss became U.K. prime minister on Tuesday and immediately confronted the enormous task ahead of her amid increasing pressure to curb soaring prices, ease labor unrest and fix a health care<\/a> system burdened by long waiting lists and staff shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the top of her in-box is the energy crisis triggered by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, shuttering businesses and leaving the nation\u2019s poorest people shivering in icy homes this winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truss, who refused to spell out her energy strategy during the two-month campaign to succeed Boris Johnson, now plans to cap energy bills at a cost to taxpayers of as much as 100 billion pounds ($116 billion), British news media reported Tuesday. She is expected to unveil her plan on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou must know about the cost of living crisis in England, which is really quite bad at the moment,\u201d Rebecca Macdougal, 55, who works in law enforcement, said outside the Houses of Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s making promises for that, as she says she\u2019s going to deliver, deliver, deliver,” she said. “But we will see in, hopefully, the next few weeks there\u2019ll be some announcements which will help the normal working person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truss took office Tuesday afternoon at Balmoral Castle in Scotland<\/a>, when Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> formally asked her to form a new government in a carefully choreographed ceremony dictated by centuries of tradition. Johnson, who announced his intention to step down two months ago, formally resigned during his own audience with the queen a short time earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the first time in the queen\u2019s 70-year reign that the handover of power took place at Balmoral, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule because the 96-year-old queen has experienced problems getting around that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a day-to-day basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n