Abstract: In a plasma arc cutter and a method of controlling the same, a rise compensating circuit (39) and a shift compensating circuit (44) both composed of a charging and discharging capacitor and a resistor are respectively inserted in parallel between an electrode-side connection (21) and a nozzle-side connection (35) and between the electrode-side connection (21) and a workpiece-side connection (34), and a diode (33) is provided on the workpiece-side connection in such a manner as to be inserted between a connecting point (36) of the nozzle-side connection and a connecting point (43) of the shift compensating circuit. A detector (31) for controlling a current is provided on the electrode-side connection at a position closer to the electrode side than a connecting point (37) of the rise compensating circuit, and a detector (32) for detecting a shift is provided on the workpiece-side connection at a position closer to the workpiece side than the connecting point (43) of the shift compensating circuit.