Capacitive kinetic energy harvesters (KEH) employ conditioning circuits which achieve a dynamic biasing of the transducer's variable capacitor. This paper, composed of two articles Part 1 and Part 2, proposes a unified theory describing electrical and electromechanical properties of an important and wide class of conditioning circuits: those implementing a rectangular charge- voltage cycle. The article Part 1 introduces a basic configuration of conditioning circuit implementing an ideal rectangular QV cycle, and discusses its known practical implementations: the Roundy charge pump with different flyback mechanisms, and configurations based on the Bennet's doubler. In Part 1, the analysis is done in the electrical domain, without accounting for electromechanical coupling, while in Part 2, the full electromechanical system is analyzed. An optimization approach common to all configurations is proposed. A comparison is made between different topologies and operation modes, based on the maximal energy converted in one cycle under similar electrical and mechanical conditions. The last section discusses practical implementation of circuits with smart and adaptive behavior, and presents experimental results obtained with state-of-the art MEMS capacitive KEH devices.