Common Shareholder's Equity Common Shareholder's Equity (Notes)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common Shareholder's Equity [Text Block]	BHE Shareholders' Equity Common Stock On March 14, 2000, and as amended on December 7, 2005, BHE's shareholders entered into a Shareholder Agreement that provides specific rights to certain shareholders. One of these rights allows certain shareholders the ability to put their common shares back to BHE at the then current fair value dependent on certain circumstances controlled by BHE. On June 19, 2017, BHE issued $100 million of its 5.00% junior subordinated debentures due June 2057 in exchange for 181,819 shares of its common stock from certain family interests of Mr. Walter Scott, Jr. On February 17, 2017, BHE repurchased from certain family interests of Mr. Walter Scott, Jr. 35,000 shares of its common stock for $19 million. On February 17, 2015, BHE repurchased from certain family interests of Mr. Walter Scott, Jr. 75,000 shares of its common stock for $36 million. Restricted Net Assets BHE has maximum debt-to-total capitalization percentage restrictions imposed by its senior unsecured credit facilities expiring in May 2018 and June 2020 which, in certain circumstances, limit BHE's ability to make cash dividends or distributions. As a result of this restriction, BHE has restricted net assets of $16.9 billion as of December 31, 2017. Certain of BHE's subsidiaries have restrictions on their ability to dividend, loan or advance funds to BHE due to specific legal or regulatory restrictions, including, but not limited to, maximum debt-to-total capitalization percentages and commitments made to state commissions or federal agencies in connection with past acquisitions. As a result of these restrictions, BHE's subsidiaries had restricted net assets of $19.4 billion as of December 31, 2017.
PacifiCorp [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common Shareholder's Equity [Text Block]	Common Shareholder's Equity In February 2018, PacifiCorp declared a dividend of $250 million payable to PPW Holdings LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHE and PacifiCorp's direct parent company ("PPW Holdings") in March 2018. Through PPW Holdings, BHE is the sole shareholder of PacifiCorp's common stock. The state regulatory orders that authorized BHE's acquisition of PacifiCorp contain restrictions on PacifiCorp's ability to pay dividends to the extent that they would reduce PacifiCorp's common equity below specified percentages of defined capitalization. As of December 31, 2017, the most restrictive of these commitments prohibits PacifiCorp from making any distribution to PPW Holdings or BHE without prior state regulatory approval to the extent that it would reduce PacifiCorp's common equity below 44% of its total capitalization, excluding short-term debt and current maturities of long-term debt. The terms of this commitment treat 50% of PacifiCorp's remaining balance of preferred stock in existence prior to the acquisition of PacifiCorp by BHE as common equity. As of December 31, 2017, PacifiCorp's actual common equity percentage, as calculated under this measure, was 54%, and PacifiCorp would have been permitted to dividend $2.5 billion under this commitment. These commitments also restrict PacifiCorp from making any distributions to either PPW Holdings or BHE if PacifiCorp's senior unsecured debt rating is BBB- or lower by Standard & Poor's Rating Services or Fitch Ratings or Baa3 or lower by Moody's Investor Service, as indicated by two of the three rating services. As of December 31, 2017, PacifiCorp met the minimum required senior unsecured debt ratings for making distributions. PacifiCorp is also subject to a maximum debt-to-total capitalization percentage under various financing agreements as further discussed in Note 6.