NOCTI Electrical Practice Test

The key idea is that the load is the device that uses the electrical power to do work. In motor control circuits, the device that consumes the electrical energy and performs the actual motion is the motor, so it is the load the circuit is controlling. The control relay, start switch, and overload are parts of the control and protection system: the relay acts as a switch driven by the control circuit, the start switch provides the command to start, and the overload protects the circuit by interrupting current if something goes wrong. So the motor is the load being controlled.