The present invention relates to a driver device (50a-50f) and a corresponding method for driving a load (22), in particular an LED unit comprising one or more LEDs (23). The proposed driver device comprises power input terminals (51, 52) for receiving a rectified supply voltage (vr) from an external power supply, power output terminals (53, 54) for providing a drive voltage and/or current for driving a load (22), a half bridge unit (70) comprising a first (60) and second (61) switching element coupled in series between a high voltage node (57) and a low voltage node (58) and having a switch node (59) between said first and second switching elements, a buck-boost input filter unit (71) comprising a first inductor (Lm) and a series diode (Dm) coupled between a power input terminal (51, 52) and said half bridge unit (70), a buck output filter unit (72) comprising a second inductor (Lo, Lc) coupled between said half bridge unit (70) and a power output terminal (53, 54), an energy storage unit (73), and a control unit (64) for controlling said switching elements (60, 61).