A static VAR compensator has several parallel compensation components (K1 K3). To connect the static VAR compensator to an operating voltage (U) the compensation components (K1 K3) are first successively connected to the operating voltage (U) by a control unit (CU) via a series resistor (R). The compensation components (K1 K3) are only connected to the operating voltage (U) without series resistance once the aforementioned connection has been completed.