Earnings Per Share (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Income (Numerator)
Income from continuing operations after income taxes attributable to PPL shareowners	$ 355	$ 444	$ 1,173	$ 1,039
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	2	2	7	4
Income from continuing operations after income taxes available to PPL shareowners	353	442	1,166	1,035
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) available to PPL common shareowners			(6)	2
Net income attributable to PPL shareowners	355	444	1,167	1,041
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	2	2	7	4
Net income available to PPL common shareowners	$ 353	$ 442	$ 1,160	$ 1,037
Shares of Common Stock (Denominator)
Weighted-average shares - Basic EPS (in shares)	580,585,000	577,595,000	579,847,000	541,135,000
Add incremental non-participating securities:
Stock options and performance units (in shares)	635,000	459,000	522,000	345,000
2010 Purchase Contracts	439,000		146,000
Forward sale agreements (in shares)	977,000		415,000
Weighted-average shares - Diluted EPS (in shares)	582,636,000	578,054,000	580,930,000	541,480,000
Basic EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.61	$ 0.76	$ 2.01	$ 1.91
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)			$ (0.01)	$ 0.01
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.61	$ 0.76	$ 2.00	$ 1.92
Diluted EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.61	$ 0.76	$ 2.01	$ 1.91
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)			$ (0.01)
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.61	$ 0.76	$ 2.00	$ 1.91
Shares Issued (Numeric) [Abstract]
Common stock issued under stock-based compensation plans (in shares)	159,000		512,000
Common stock issued under ESOP (in shares)			280,000
Common stock issued under DRIP (in shares)	598,000		1,773,000
Stock Options [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS	4,935,000	4,473,000	5,622,000	5,377,000
Performance Units [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS		3,000	76,000	3,000
Purchase Contacts 2011 [Member]
Potential Dilutive Impact (Numeric) [Abstract]
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 30.99
Purchase Contracts 2010 [Member]
Potential Dilutive Impact (Numeric) [Abstract]
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 28.80
Combined Purchase Contracts [Member]
Potential Dilutive Impact (Numeric) [Abstract]
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			95,800,000
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			86,500,000
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			9,300,000