Retirement, Other Postretirement Benefits, And Defined Contribution Plans (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) plan	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Risk	10.00%
Change in Plan Assets
non-current pension liability	$ 2,798,265	$ 2,616,085
Current pension liability	66,184	61,240
Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	143,400	131,900
Net periodic benefit costs	22,600	24,400	$ 37,600
Settlement charges related to the payment of lump sum benefits out of the plan	7,400	7,700	20,300
Projected benefit obligation	162,800	147,000
Defined Benefit Plan Benefit Obligation, Current	18,100	17,000
Defined Benefit Plan Benefit Obligation, Non-Current	144,600	130,000
Amortization of prior service credit	58,800	51,900
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	24,900	19,200
Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	6,271,160	5,497,415	6,071,316
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	8,406,203	7,404,917	7,987,087
non-current pension liability	2,135,043	1,907,502
Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	$ 6,271,160	5,497,415
Change in Plan Assets
Number of qualified pension plans | plan	8
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	$ 7,800,000	6,900,000
Net periodic benefit costs	276,969	255,613	214,221
Amortization of prior service credit	0	398	261
Expected Employer Contributions	$ 216,300
Number of Qualified Pension Plans in which Registrant Subsidiaries Participate	4
Number of final average pay pension plans	6
Number of Cash Balance Pension Plans in which Asset Held in Second Master Trust	2
Defined Contribution Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Subsidiaries' contribution to defined contribution plan	$ 57,600	54,300	49,100
Defined Contribution Plan, Employer Matching Contribution, Percent of Employees' Gross Pay	6.00%
Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	$ 686,262	609,782	659,327
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(5,593)	13,088	25,603
Projected benefit obligation	1,252,903	1,232,619	1,563,487
non-current pension liability	518,601	578,561
Current pension liability	48,040	44,276
Amortization of prior service credit	(35,377)	(37,002)	(41,425)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	(37,901)	(76,299)
Expected Employer Contributions	49,100
Entergy Arkansas [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
non-current pension liability	319,075	313,295
Entergy Arkansas [Member] | Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	2,248	2,519
Net periodic benefit costs	275	474	679
Projected benefit obligation	2,755	2,752
non-current pension liability	2,506	2,554
Current pension liability	249	198
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)		0
Settlement charges		30	269
Entergy Arkansas [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	1,200,035	1,068,842	1,205,668
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	1,615,084	1,443,808	1,580,756
non-current pension liability	415,049	374,966
Entergy Arkansas [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	1,519,998	1,362,425
Net periodic benefit costs	44,400	43,020	36,987
Entergy Arkansas [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	284,224	252,055	274,678
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(10,747)	(10,168)	(4,015)
Projected benefit obligation	185,744	187,830	249,019
Current pension liability	0	0
Amortization of prior service credit	(4,950)	(5,110)	(5,110)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	0	0
Expected Employer Contributions	509
Entergy Louisiana [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
non-current pension liability	677,619	643,171
Entergy Louisiana [Member] | Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	1,682	1,881
Net periodic benefit costs	159	180	185
Projected benefit obligation	1,682	1,881
non-current pension liability	1,467	1,652
Current pension liability	216	229
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)		5
Entergy Louisiana [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	1,364,030	1,215,926	1,365,741
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	1,784,474	1,599,916	1,785,700
non-current pension liability	420,444	383,990
Entergy Louisiana [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	1,643,759	1,481,158
Net periodic benefit costs	48,630	52,108	44,283
Entergy Louisiana [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	0	0	0
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	7,259	11,194	12,598
Projected benefit obligation	274,175	275,269	345,389
non-current pension liability	255,708	257,529
Current pension liability	18,467	17,740
Amortization of prior service credit	(7,349)	(7,735)	(7,735)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	(29,654)	(35,478)
Expected Employer Contributions	18,545
Entergy Mississippi [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
non-current pension liability	99,406	93,100
Entergy Mississippi [Member] | Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	2,938	2,427
Net periodic benefit costs	326	300	251
Projected benefit obligation	3,286	2,732
non-current pension liability	2,930	2,604
Current pension liability	357	128
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)		0
Settlement charges	40
Entergy Mississippi [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	354,928	316,716	360,842
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	471,510	414,089	457,549
non-current pension liability	116,582	97,373
Entergy Mississippi [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	438,817	387,635
Net periodic benefit costs	11,331	10,792	8,504
Entergy Mississippi [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	86,085	75,853	82,433
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(2,100)	(1,513)	(1,030)
Projected benefit obligation	65,979	68,976	84,621
Current pension liability	0	0
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,756)	(1,823)	(1,823)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	0	0
Expected Employer Contributions	130
Entergy New Orleans [Member] | Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	230	206
Net periodic benefit costs	20	81	73
Projected benefit obligation	231	206
non-current pension liability	215	191
Current pension liability	17	16
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)		0
Entergy New Orleans [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	160,777	145,968	165,747
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	206,962	191,190	217,896
non-current pension liability	46,185	45,222
Entergy New Orleans [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	192,561	179,907
Net periodic benefit costs	5,101	5,789	5,096
Entergy New Orleans [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	93,858	81,774	85,504
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(3,450)	(3,673)	(2,521)
Projected benefit obligation	38,460	41,987	53,548
Current pension liability	0	0
Amortization of prior service credit	(682)	(745)	(745)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	0	0
Expected Employer Contributions	162
Entergy Texas [Member] | Non-Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	7,391	7,724
Net periodic benefit costs	481	650	499
Projected benefit obligation	7,783	7,952
non-current pension liability	7,060	7,280
Current pension liability	723	672
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)		0
Settlement charges		139
Entergy Texas [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	339,126	315,514	363,523
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	396,764	369,604	410,720
non-current pension liability	57,638	54,090
Entergy Texas [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	371,589	347,852
Net periodic benefit costs	5,740	4,158	3,543
Entergy Texas [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	161,810	144,846	154,171
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(6,503)	(6,204)	(1,751)
Projected benefit obligation	94,742	88,310	116,702
Current pension liability	0	0
Amortization of prior service credit	(2,243)	(2,316)	(2,316)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	0	0
Expected Employer Contributions	61
System Energy [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
non-current pension liability	109,816	98,639
System Energy [Member] | Qualified Pension Obligations [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	282,668	245,516	274,432
Change in Plan Assets
Projected benefit obligation	393,607	339,034	384,049
non-current pension liability	110,939	93,518
System Energy [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Accumulated pension benefit obligation	368,771	317,848
Net periodic benefit costs	12,345	14,905	11,716
System Energy [Member] | Other Postretirement Benefits Plan [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Amount	48,471	43,670	49,124
Change in Plan Assets
Net periodic benefit costs	(1,009)	(490)	692
Projected benefit obligation	47,348	48,791	61,381
non-current pension liability		5,121
Current pension liability	0	0
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,450)	(1,513)	$ (1,513)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (before taxes)	0	$ 0
Expected Employer Contributions	$ 21
Minimum [Member] | Defined Contribution Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Defined Contribution Plan, Employer Matching Contribution, Percent of Match	70.00%
Maximum [Member] | Defined Contribution Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Defined Contribution Plan, Employer Matching Contribution, Percent of Match	100.00%
Domestic Equity Securities [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	39.00%
Domestic Equity Securities [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	32.00%
Domestic Equity Securities [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	46.00%
International Equity Securities [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	19.00%
International Equity Securities [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	15.00%
International Equity Securities [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	23.00%
Fixed Income Securities [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	42.00%
Fixed Income Securities [Member] | Minimum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	39.00%
Fixed Income Securities [Member] | Maximum [Member] | Qualified Pension Plans [Member]
Change in Plan Assets
Target asset allocation	45.00%