Earnings Per Share (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Share data	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010
Potential Dilutive Impact (Numeric) [Abstract]
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of 2010 Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 28.80
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of 2011 Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 30.99
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			103,372,695
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the standard provision of the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			86,552,565
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the make whole provisions of the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			16,820,130
Income (Numerator)
Income from continuing operations after income taxes attributable to PPL	$ 444	$ 301	$ 1,039	$ 621
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	2	1	4	2
Income from continuing operations after income taxes available to PPL common shareowners	442	300	1,035	619
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) available to PPL	0	(53)	2	(38)
Net income attributable to PPL	444	248	1,041	583
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	2	1	4	2
Net income available to PPL common shareowners	$ 442	$ 247	$ 1,037	$ 581
Shares of Common Stock (Denominator)
Weighted-average shares - Basic EPS (in shares)	577,595,000	482,552,000	541,135,000	414,068,000
Add incremental non-participating securities:
Stock options and performance units (in shares)	459,000	210,000	345,000	219,000
Weighted-average shares - Diluted EPS (in shares)	578,054,000	482,762,000	541,480,000	414,287,000
Basic EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.76	$ 0.62	$ 1.91	$ 1.49
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ (0.11)	$ 0.01	$ (0.09)
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.76	$ 0.51	$ 1.92	$ 1.40
Diluted EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.76	$ 0.62	$ 1.91	$ 1.49
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ (0.11)	$ 0	$ (0.09)
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.76	$ 0.51	$ 1.91	$ 1.40
Shares Issued (Numeric) [Abstract]
Common stock issued under stock-based compensation plans (in shares)	17,311		410,283
Common stock issued under ESOP (in shares)			301,319
Common stock issued under DRIP (in shares)	561,918		1,741,827
Stock Options [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS	4,473,000	5,194,000	5,377,000	4,844,000
Performance Units [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS	3,000	0	3,000	61,000