Ukrainians exchanged 5 million incandescent light bulbs for new LED bulbs through the EU and Government Programme over the first two weeks

About one million Ukrainians have already taken advantage of the Programme enabling free exchange of old incandescent lightbulbs against new energy-saving LED bulbs. Since the Programme’s launch on January 30, about 5 million lightbulbs have been exchanged. At the same time, 2.2 million energy-saving lamps have been ordered for exchange through the Diia application.

Oleksiy Sobolev, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization, spoke about the progress made by the government programme initiated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and supported by the European Union during a press briefing on February 14 at the General Post Office. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Etienne de Ponsins, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas, Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smilyanskyi and media representatives took part in the event.

“The lightbulb exchange programme is designed to reduce pressure on Ukraine’s energy system, which the enemy is constantly trying to destroy. Today, we take record of interim results: Ukrainians have exchanged almost 5 million bulbs. This is a good result as Ukrainians responded positively to the Government’s call to reduce power consumption. We are grateful to our partners for supporting Ukraine’s energy front, in particular the European Union, which financed the procurement of 35 million LED lamps. Also, my personal thanks go to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine, Mr. Etienne de Ponsins, for his country has individually
financed the procurement of another 5 million lamps”, commented Oleksiy Sobolev.

The Government’s goal is to implement the Programme enabling exchange 50 million incandescent lightbulbs against new energy-saving ones, which should significantly reduce power consumption by the population. It is planned that the campaign will reach out to about 10 million Ukrainians, and each will be able to get 5 LED bulbs. Currently, the Government continues to search for donors who could provide funding for the procurement of another 10 million lightbulbs.

“During the first two weeks of the #TogetherWeBringLight campaign, Ukrainians have exchanged 5 million lightbulbs. Thanks to France, whose government quickly added 5 million bulbs to the 35 million lamps from the EU. I call on EU Member States to join this campaign to achieve the goal of replacing 50 million old-style lightbulbs and saving 1 gigawatt of electricity”, said Ambassador Matti Maasikas, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

According to experts, switching to LED lamps will help reduce power consumption by 7 – 10% at peak loads, that is, to save about 1 gigawatt of electricity. Also, thanks to modern LED bulbs, Ukrainian families will be able to reduce their electricity bills.

“I am pleased to be part of this initiative. The respective decision was made during ‘Solidarity with the Ukrainian People’ international conference in Paris with the purpose to find opportunities to overcome the consequences of attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and to provide a powerful solidarity response from the EU. As part of the 50 million LED lamps in total, France undertook to supply 5 million lightbulbs. A distinctive feature of France is speed and responsiveness to the calls on what Ukraine needs. I think such an initiative is an example of successful French-European-Ukrainian cooperation”, noted Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Etienne de Ponsins.

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