For most New Yorkers, monitoring electricity costs means perusing the monthly statements that arrive from Con Edison. If city lawmakers get their way, residents will soon be able to watch from their own apartments as energy prices rise and fall throughout the course of a day.

Using “smart meters,” residents could see how much electricity they are using — and how much it costs — by checking data on consoles in their homes. Advocates are pushing for an expansion of the emerging technology, along with a shift in pricing that would allow consumers to take advantage of an energy market that fluctuates by the minute.

Instead of paying a flat rate established by the utility, residents could save as much as 10% by running heavy appliances such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners at night when prices are low, thus conserving electricity during peak hours in the afternoon.

Many large companies in the city’s commercial sector already use smart meters, but the City Council is pushing the state to remove hurdles to their installation in individual apartments throughout the five boroughs.

The Public Service Commission in August ordered state utilities to draw up plans within six months to implement advanced meter reading, but lawmakers want Albany officials to move faster, especially in bringing smart meter technology to residents.

Some residential buildings, co-ops, and condominiums have installed smart meters, but they are not available for individual tenants. The council is expected to pass a resolution today calling on the commission to allow individual apartments to access real-time energy pricing by using the advanced meters.

An individual smart meter can cost a few hundred dollars, but advocates say the initial cost would be made up in savings over time.

Con Edison says it is converting to automated meter-reading technology in Westchester, but it has no specific plans to expand into the city. The company said in a statement that it would continue to deploy newer meter readers “as appropriate,” and would comply with the commission’s order to issue detailed plans by February.

The utility’s progress has not satisfied advocates of smart meters and “real time” pricing, who say Con Edison is dragging its feet. Because the new meters being installed in Westchester do not include in-home displays or real-time pricing, it will be harder to convince Con Edison to make the switch to better technology without compensating the company for its investment, the executive director of the Meter Service Providers Association of New York, Mark Williams, said. “The utilities are not in favor of this technology for one reason: They know it works and that by deploying it on a large scale will have a negative impact on their profits,” Mr. Williams said in testimony submitted to the council.