Abstract: A coil is serially connected to a capacitive display unit, such as an EL display panel, which includes an insulating display element sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. The coil and the electrostatic capacitance of the display unit function, in combination, to form an LC resonance circuit, which limits transient current flowing through the insulating display element and enables the display unit to operate in a low power dissipation mode. An alternating driving signal to be applied to the display unit has an intermediate potential period on which a writing pulse is superimposed, thereby to minimize high voltage requirement of the writing circuit.