Ontario could energize its manufacturing sector by cutting industrial hydro rates by at least 15 per cent, and reining in salaries and profits at the province's power agencies, New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said Thursday.

Speaking in Hamilton, which has had significant manufacturing job losses, Hampton said the all-in cost of electricity would be no higher than $55 a megawatt hour, if he is elected as premier on Oct. 10. The current rate is $65 a megawatt hour.

Manufacturing companies in sectors like steel, auto parts and forestry would be eligible for the lower rate at the start of next year and would have the price locked in for five years.

The businesses would be required to guarantee jobs and meet energy-efficiency targets, but Hampton said he doesn't think getting those commitments would be a problem.

"I've met with people in the forest sector, the steel sector, and the auto parts sector, and many of them would be quite prepared to sit down and negotiate," he said.

"A lot of companies want to stay in Ontario, they want to continue to manufacture and produce here, but the tools to do that just aren't there."

Hampton said the lower rates wouldn't lead to higher bills for non-commercial users because he would limit the salaries and profits at Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation to make up the difference.

"There's absolutely no reason why we should be paying hydro executives $1 million plus, $2 million plus when the head of Hydro-Québec is paid $500,000 and when the heads of Manitoba Hydro, Saskatchewan Power and BC Hydro are paid even less than that," he said.

But Tom Adams of Energy Probe said cutting salaries would not save enough money to lower industrial rates and would almost definitely lead to higher bills for homeowners.

"If you add up all the executive salaries across the entire power system, it adds up to a very, very tiny amount on your overall power bill; executive salaries are way less than one per cent," Adams said.

"If rates are going to go down for one class of customers, they'll have to go up for another class of customers."