An energy monitor for your home?

The cost of energy is spiraling beyond the reach of many Pennsylvanians.

Forty-three percent of residents and 59 percent of businesses are having trouble keeping up with recent energy-cost increases, according to the statewide environmental advocacy group PennFuture.

The State Senate is scheduled to vote by mid-October on a bill that aims to help electricity customers cut back their energy consumption by installing meters that indicate how much energy they are using.

The meters would also tell customers how much energy costs at different times of the day.

"Consumers need information," said Laura Blau, a member of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, at a recent town hall meeting about the bill. "They will run their dishwashers at a different time of day if they understand it will affect their bottom line."

The energy meters would cost families "a dollar or two a month," according to PennFuture director of outreach Christine Knapp, who organized the town hall.

The bill is largely focused on residential energy use, so "some of its aspects don't apply to a big energy buyer like Penn," said Dan Garofalo, the University's sustainability coordinator.

Meters would, however, be installed in residential buildings surrounding campus.

PennFuture considers it landmark legislation that will save Pennsylvania citizens 20 percent on current electricity costs.

Some Pennsylvanians say they are upset by how much they pay for electricity.

"I was horrified when I came here a few years ago and saw that my utility bills were twice as high as they were in New York," said Sharon Fulton, a Philadelphia resident who attended the town hall meeting.

Utility moratoriums in the state - indicative of the number of households unable to pay for their utilities on time - rose to 60,000 in 2008, up from 40,000 in 2007, according to John Rowe, executive director of Pennsylvania's Utility Emergency Services Fund.

Senior citizens and low-income families are struggling most to pay their utility bills, according to Knapp.

University students, on the other hand, likely use more energy than average Pennsylvania residents.

"Younger generations tend to have a lot of gadgets that ramp up energy use," Knapp said.

According to Garofalo, Penn has "a robust and very active energy conservation program" that consults with, among others, the TC Chan Center at Penn's School of Design and the Penn Environmental Group.

For instance, the University now only stocks fluorescent lightbulbs for dorm appliances and swaps them for any less energy-efficient incandescent bulbs that students bring from home.

Still, Garofalo said he and his team "of course support any plans to improve energy performance in the state, save energy and be more efficient."

PennFuture, which Garofalo calls a "terrific" organization, is garnering steady support for the bill, said Knapp.

It has attracted about 60 Pennsylvania groups to a coalition urging state senators to vote for the bill.

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