An apparatus includes a control device configured to serve as a principal controlling agent in an electric power conversion device incorporating a switching circuit configured to be a bidirectional inverter. The control device is configured to subtract, from a reference signal that is determined in accordance with an operation mode of the electric power conversion device, a multiplied signal obtained by multiplying a control-target current of the switching circuit by a prescribed coefficient to generate, based on a result of the subtraction, a control signal for controlling the bidirectional inverter.