The government has expanded the range of consumers who can take advantage of the programme for exchanging incandescent light bulbs for energy-saving ones. From now on, cultural, sports and social institutions, as well as apartment building co-owners associations, will be able to exchange old bulbs. The decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 11 August.

"4 million Ukrainians have already joined the programme to exchange incandescent light bulbs for energy-saving ones to reduce energy consumption. We have already exchanged 20 million old light bulbs for LED ones. With today's decision, we are expanding the number of consumers who can benefit from the programme, as we aim to replace about 50 million bulbs to reduce the burden on the country's energy system," said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy. 

In particular, the following organisations will be eligible for light bulbs exchange under the programme:

• cultural institutions (municipal and state-owned);
• social protection institutions and specialised support services for victims of domestic and gender-based violence (municipal and state-owned);
• physical culture and sports institutions (municipal);
• entities providing management services for an apartment building or apartment building co-owners associations.

Thee above legal entities can exchange:

• 3 light bulbs per 10 square metres of premises of social protection institutions, reading rooms, book depositories and archive repositories of libraries and archives, cultural institutions, housing stock of apartment building managers, condominiums;
• 2 light bulbs per 10 square metres of common areas of social protection, physical culture and sports institutions, apartment building managers, apartment building co-owners associations;

To exchange light bulbs, you will need to first send a request for LED lamps via the Diia portal. To do this, you need to:

• log in to the Diia portal using the legal entity's qualified electronic signature (QES);
• check information about the legal entity;
• go to the Services section, select Light Bulb Exchange and start filling out the request;
• specify the area in the calculator to see the limit and select the number and types of light bulbs within the limit;
• tick the box indicating that you agree to hand over the same number of incandescent bulbs;
• indicate the location of the organisation;
• verify and confirm the data regarding the generated request;
• sign the request with the legal entity's QES.

After submitting the application, Ukrposhta representatives will contact you at the specified phone number within a week and provide further instructions on how to receive the energy-saving light bulbs.

For reference:

The light bulb exchange programme is supported by the European Union in response to President Zelenskyy's call and is being implemented by the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and Ukrposhta in all regions of Ukraine, except for the combat zone and temporarily occupied territories. The EU-funded programme is part of the European Union's support for the Ukrainian energy front as one of the energy efficiency tools that will help balance energy consumption during peak hours.