A voltage is applied to a machining gap between a wire electrode and a workpiece for a period of one microsecond or less with a quiescent time longer than the duration of voltage application between each two adjacent cycles of voltage application provided, and the number of duty cycles and a machining-gap voltage are detected. An open-circuit state in which electric discharge does not occur after the voltage is applied is identified by the detected machining-gap voltage, and the number of open-circuits is counted. An average machining-gap voltage is obtained based on the numbers of duty cycles and open-circuits and the supply voltage or an average voltage for each duty cycle.