10 million light bulbs were exchanged by Ukrainians across the country under the EU & Government Programme

Since the programme started on 30 January 2023, more than 2 million Ukrainians have benefitted from the opportunity to replace outdated incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving ones. Through Ukrposhta offices, they have already received 10 million LED bulbs and, thus, engaged in supporting Ukraine’s energy front.

After one month since the All-Ukrainian free light bulb exchange programme was launched by the EU and the Government of Ukraine, over 2 million Ukrainians have joined in and exchanged 10 million incandescent lamps for the same number of LEDs at Ukrposhta offices.

The light bulb exchange programme was launched first across major cities of Ukraine’s regions, as well as in Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk and Kryvyi Rih. Later, these cities were joined by other towns and urban-type settlements throughout the country, except for the territories currently not under government control. From February 25 on, the light bulb exchange became available in village communities. Now, citizens can exchange 5 old incandescent bulbs against the same number of LED ones at post offices throughout Ukraine. The exchange is available both at regular post offices and at Ukrposhta’s mobile offices in around 23,000 settlements across Ukraine. This has become possible since Ukrposhta runs the largest network of its branches throughout the country and acts as a logistics partner to the programme.

As part of the European Union’s support to the Ukrainian energy front, the EU has already provided 35 million LED light bulbs to Ukraine, and another 5 million lamps were financed by France. To save electricity and support the energy front, Ukrainians have massively joined the exchange programme. With this simple action, each household can reduce power consumption by up to 8 times.

‘10 million light bulbs have been exchanged since the programme started about a month ago. The energy saved already amounts to the volume of one of Kyiv’s combined heat power stations. This is a significant contribution to stabilising the energy system after Russian attacks’, said EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas.

As of March 3, the number of exchanges rose beyond 1 million in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions each, 840 thousand in Lviv region, 610 thousand in Kharkiv region, 600 thousand in Odesa region, and Vinnytsia region exchanged 590 thousand bulbs.

Ukrainians can apply for exchange of old incandescent light bulbs against energy-saving LED ones in the DIIA Application and get them at one of the Ukrposhta offices. It is also possible to exchange bulbs at Ukrposhta outlets with no prior registration in the application. In this case the bulbs can be exchanged when available only. Please note that residents of villages with a population of less than 2,000 people can only exchange lightbulbs at Ukrposhta offices without prior registration.