Embodiments of the present invention disclose a power control method and apparatus, relate to the field of wireless communications, and are invented for reducing power pressure of an air interface of a base station and ensuring a stable network environment. The method includes: determining whether received total wideband power (RTWP) of an air interface exceeds a set first congestion threshold value; when the RTWP of the air interface exceeds the set first congestion threshold value, sending a congestion indication to a radio network controller (RNC), where the congestion indication is used for indicating that the RNC is forbidden from up-regulating a target signal-to-interference ratio (SIR); receiving a target SIR sent by the RNC; down-regulating the target SIR sent by the RNC; and notifying, based on the down-regulated target SIR, a user equipment (UE) to reduce transmit power. The present invention is mainly applied to the field of power control.