ROXBURY – Developers of a proposed wind power project sweetened the pot this week by offering to provide a significant amount of free electricity to every house and seasonal home in town year-round.

To get it, the town must decide on amending its comprehensive plan and the new zoning ordinance to allow wind power facilities on town hills by year’s end, according to a Monday letter to selectmen from Brunswick-based Independence Wind LLC principals Angus King and Rob Gardiner.

Similar letters were also sent to residents.

“We are ready to offer every household an amount of free electricity every month equal to the average residential power consumption in Maine,” which is the first 500 kilowatt hours per month per household, King stated in the letter.

The Power to the People benefit – as King and Gardiner dubbed it – would reduce monthly Central Maine Power bills by about two-thirds for about 400 Roxbury residents, King said.

People would still have to pay CMP’s power delivery charge.

The benefit, which starts six months after the project begins operating commercially, applies to about 200 homes in town as of Sept. 1 that are CMP customers, King said by phone late Tuesday afternoon.

Rather than give each household energy rebates to submit with bills, Independence Wind would pay CMP directly.

As long as the project remains operational, the deal would continue for 20 years – the approximate life span of the proposed 22 wind turbines.

“We have said from the beginning that we wanted the people of Roxbury to be a part of this project – to have a stake with us in the important job of producing clean, renewable energy with stable long-term costs. We believe that this proposal – unique to Maine and the Northeast, as far as we know – makes good on that promise,” the letter stated.

In the past 18 months, while trying to convince Roxbury residents to OK creation of a new zone to allow wind power facilities in town, many have asked where generated electricity would go and how such a project would benefit the town.

“Once electricity goes into the wires, you can’t identify (its source). But by the physics of it, electricity goes to the nearest demand. So, if somebody in Roxbury has their lights on and those turbines are turning, chances are, that’s where it’s going to go first,” King said.

Coupled with free electricity, the company would also pay an estimated $700,000 annually for local property taxes. King projected that would cut homeowners’ property tax bills by about 65 percent.

That, combined with the electricity payment, means the project’s total net benefit to Roxbury is expected to be more than $800,000 annually.

“When you add it to the taxes, you’re talking about almost $2,000 for every man, woman and child in town per year and there are almost 400 people in town. So, it’s a big benefit,” King said.

Deborah DeRoche, Roxbury’s lone selectman, said Tuesday that she doesn’t believe the offer will sway residents’ minds much.

“As far as what Angus said, they can propose whatever they want, but I think it’s still going to be up to the people to vote for themselves, you know,” DeRoche said.

“I think if he said 80 percent of the taxes, the people that are against it are going to vote against it. I don’t know if he’d sway anybody more that way or not. I think most people have made up their mind already. This is just something to try to sweeten the pot,” she added.

A vote on the proposal would likely be held this fall.