A friend gave me some insight into energy saving LED lights. This new technology gave the same brightness as the normal light but uses a fraction of the energy.
The government of the UK and Europe subsidized the replacement of the ordinary lights with the LED lights. In one country, they went to all the eligible households to replace the lights with the new LED lights, at the cost to the state. In other countries, the cost of the LED lights were made affordable due to heavy subsidy from the government.
In recent years, the cost of LED lights had dropped significantly, due to high demand and economy of scale in production.
I did not recall a similar initiative from the Singapore government. It is time for the Singapore government to encourage households to switch to the LED lights.