Leases and Palisades Financing - Lessor Leases Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Sales-type and Direct Financing Leases, Lease Receivable, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
Minimum rental payments to be received 2026 and thereafter	$ 10
Lease receivables	5
Unearned income	5
Maximum
Sales-type and Direct Financing Leases, Lease Receivable, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
Minimum rental payments to be received 2021	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2022	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2023	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2024	1
Minimum rental payments to be received in 2025	1
Consumers Energy Company
Sales-type and Direct Financing Leases, Lease Receivable, Fiscal Year Maturity [Abstract]
Minimum rental payments to be received 2021	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2022	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2023	1
Minimum annual rental payments to be received in 2024	1
Minimum rental payments to be received in 2025	1
Minimum rental payments to be received 2026 and thereafter	18
Lease receivables	10
Unearned income	13
Power Sales Agreement
Lessor, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Leasing income	148	$ 174
Variable lease income	$ 93	$ 119
CMS Energy Subsidiary \| Natural Gas Transportation Agreement \| Consumers Energy Company
Lessor, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Direct financing lease term	20 years

Term of lessor's direct financing lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919359-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorDirectFinancingLeaseTermOfContract1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorLeaseDescriptionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of operating lease income from lease payments and variable lease payments paid and payable to lessor. Includes, but is not limited to, variable lease payments not included in measurement of lease receivable.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919372-209981

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121561866&loc=SL77919311-209978

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 270
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121640914&loc=SL77927221-108306

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingLeaseLeaseIncome
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of operating lease income from variable lease payments paid and payable to lessor, excluding amount included in measurement of lease receivable.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 270
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121640914&loc=SL77927221-108306

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919372-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingLeaseVariableLeaseIncome
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Present value of lease payments not yet received by lessor and amount expected to be derived from underlying asset, following end of lease term guaranteed by lessee or other third party unrelated to lessor, from sales-type and direct financing leases.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 10
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919391-209981

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919379-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivable
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivableFiscalYearMaturityAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases in fifth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedFiveYears
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases in fourth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedFourYears
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases in next fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedNextTwelveMonths
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases after fifth fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedThereafter
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases in third fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedThreeYears
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted cash flows to be received by lessor for sales-type and direct financing leases in second fiscal year following current fiscal year. Excludes interim and annual periods when interim periods are reported from current statement of financial position date (rolling approach).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivablePaymentsToBeReceivedTwoYears
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of undiscounted lease receivable in excess of discounted receivable for sales-type and direct financing leases.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesTypeAndDirectFinancingLeasesLeaseReceivableUndiscountedExcessAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=cms_ConsumersEnergyCompanyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByAssetClassAxis=cms_PowerSalesAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_CounterpartyNameAxis=cms_CMSEnergySubsidiaryMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByAssetClassAxis=cms_NaturalGasTransportationAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: