The invention provides a converter controllable in regenerative running mode, which is a power converting apparatus capable of suppressing harmonics without increasing the size of a reactor, and reducing power loss and electromagnetic noise. A power converter (7) is configured by directly connecting AC sides of single-phase sub-converters (3) having a DC voltage lower than a DC voltage of a 3-phase main converter (2) to AC input lines of individual phases thereof in series. The main converter (2) is driven by one gate pulse per half recurring cycle and a voltage produced by each sub-converter (3) at AC terminals thereof is controlled to match a difference between an AC power supply voltage and a voltage produced by the main converter (2) at AC terminals thereof, whereby phase voltages of the power converter (7) are generated as the sums of phase voltages of the individual converters (2), (3).
