A capacitive load is controlled by charging and respectively discharging by way of a load current, which is allowed to oscillate between a maximum default and a minimum default. The maximum default increases monotonously in a first step, remains essentially constant in a second step, and decreases monotonously in a third step during a charging process. The minimum default decreases monotonously in a first step, remains essentially constant in a second step, and increases monotonously in a third step during a discharging process. A variable temporal overlap of the third step of the charging process and the first step of the subsequent discharging process is provided to set a required degree of charging. This results in a high level of resolution and reproducibility of the control.