Consumers should know just how much energy they’re using and when, a group of about 50 companies led by Google, including some of the most important tech and venture capital players in the country, have told President Barack Obama.

Among the companies signing on to the letter in addition to Google are Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Intel, AT&T, and Best Buy, as well as heavyweight venture capital firms Vantage Point Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Foundation Capital.

“By giving people the ability to monitor and manage their energy consumption, for instance, via their computers, phones, or other devices, we can unleash the forces of innovation in homes and businesses,” the group wrote to Obama. At the same time, the group says, such an initiative could save consumers and businesses billions of dollars and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The businesses believe consumers should be able to see how much power they’re using, how much it costs, and information about the source of the energy—whether it’s a nuclear or coal plant generating the juice, for instance.

As they point out, technology to provide just such information already exists. Grouped under the general heading of smart grid, such technology has already been deployed in some areas of the country, and Obama has previously both endorsed it and helped fund smart-grid projects through last year’s stimulus act.

Many of the companies, such as several of the venture capital firms and manufacturers, are involved in the technology they’re advocating, either directly or through companies they fund.

“To ensure success, we need clear rules on consumer access to information; incentives to promote the deployment of technologies, including cost recovery; programs that educate and engage both providers and energy users; and encouragement of diverse technologies,” the companies write in the letter to the president released Sunday.

They’re calling on Obama to start a White House effort to coordinate federal agencies, states, and industry to come up with the best policy to get energy information into consumers’ hands; encourage installation of technology meant to deliver energy-use information to consumers; and hold a White House summit to highlight energy use and control of it to consumers.

The letter comes at an interesting time for Obama, who is trying to thread the political needle on energy use.