Consolidated Balance Sheets (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	$ 66,114	$ 112,992
Temporary cash investments	196,817	419,577
Total cash and cash equivalents	262,931	532,569
Securitization recovery trust account	44,438	46,040
Accounts receivable:
Customer	636,694	568,871
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(32,122)	(31,956)
Other	157,978	161,408
Accrued unbilled revenues	269,010	303,392
Total accounts receivable	1,031,560	1,001,715
Deferred fuel costs	83,758	150,363
Accumulated deferred income taxes	192,816	306,902
Fuel inventory - at average cost	218,978	213,831
Materials and supplies - at average cost	928,103	928,530
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs	318,024	243,374
System agreement cost equalization	16,880	16,880
Prepayments and other	225,385	242,922
TOTAL	3,322,873	3,683,126
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Investment in affiliates - at equity	45,977	46,738
Decommissioning trust funds	4,452,707	4,190,108
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	260,068	256,039
Other	188,473	436,234
TOTAL	4,947,225	4,929,119
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	42,064,616	41,944,567
Property under capital lease	934,495	935,199
Natural gas	356,988	353,492
Construction work in progress	1,413,897	1,365,699
Nuclear fuel	1,607,352	1,598,430
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	46,377,348	46,197,387
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	19,067,907	18,898,842
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	27,309,441	27,298,545
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	752,696	742,030
Other regulatory assets	4,860,886	5,025,912
Deferred fuel costs	172,202	172,202
Goodwill	377,172	377,172
Accumulated deferred income taxes	66,833	37,748
Other	983,645	936,648
TOTAL	7,213,434	7,291,712
TOTAL ASSETS	42,792,973	43,202,502
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	630,622	718,516
Notes payable	1,073,888	796,002
Accounts payable	1,036,122	1,217,180
Customer deposits	361,299	359,078
Taxes accrued	298,071	333,719
Accumulated deferred income taxes	15,004	13,109
Interest accrued	154,095	184,664
Deferred fuel costs	27,684	96,439
Obligations under capital leases	3,495	3,880
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	97,404	95,900
System agreement cost equalization	16,880	25,848
Other	181,856	261,986
TOTAL	3,896,420	4,106,321
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	8,348,976	8,311,756
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	270,912	273,696
Obligations under capital leases	33,976	34,541
Other regulatory liabilities	1,046,106	898,614
Decommissioning trust fund	3,525,687	3,513,634
Accumulated provisions	116,542	362,226
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	3,757,078	3,725,886
Long-term debt	11,729,134	11,920,318
Other	574,555	577,910
TOTAL	29,402,966	29,618,581
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	186,511	186,511
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	2,548	2,548
Paid-in capital	5,349,885	5,357,852
Retained earnings	9,718,171	9,704,591
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(303,658)	(293,083)
Less - treasury stock, at cost	5,553,870	5,574,819
Total common shareholders' equity	9,213,076	9,197,089
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	94,000	94,000
TOTAL	9,307,076	9,291,089
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	42,792,973	43,202,502
Entergy Arkansas [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	2,561	9,597
Temporary cash investments	12,361	24,936
Total cash and cash equivalents	14,922	34,533
Securitization recovery trust account	7,862	4,403
Accounts receivable:
Customer	111,366	98,036
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(28,430)	(28,343)
Associated companies	95,046	67,277
Other	70,602	71,956
Accrued unbilled revenues	64,563	72,902
Total accounts receivable	313,147	281,828
Deferred fuel costs	53,565	97,305
Accumulated deferred income taxes	81,471	72,196
Fuel inventory - at average cost	43,872	48,975
Materials and supplies - at average cost	151,712	148,682
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs	38,950	38,410
System agreement cost equalization	0	0
Prepayments and other	13,481	10,586
TOTAL	718,982	736,918
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Decommissioning trust funds	643,190	600,578
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	1,669	1,671
Other	41,182	41,182
TOTAL	686,041	643,431
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	8,674,092	8,693,659
Property under capital lease	1,133	1,154
Construction work in progress	208,581	205,982
Nuclear fuel	268,976	303,825
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	9,152,782	9,204,620
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	4,074,302	4,104,882
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	5,078,480	5,099,738
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	78,572	80,751
Other regulatory assets	1,207,053	1,221,636
Deferred fuel costs	0	0
Other	41,046	36,971
TOTAL	1,326,671	1,339,358
TOTAL ASSETS	7,810,174	7,819,445
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	330,000	330,000
Short-term borrowings	21,383	36,735
Associated companies accounts payable	40,826	39,288
Other	143,875	200,964
Customer deposits	86,143	85,198
Taxes accrued	208,805	214,969
Accumulated deferred income taxes	3,824	5,927
Interest accrued	18,301	28,418
Other	48,196	45,208
TOTAL	901,353	986,707
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	1,865,020	1,829,281
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	40,450	40,947
Other regulatory liabilities	176,769	143,901
Decommissioning trust fund	691,229	680,712
Accumulated provisions	5,917	5,822
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	613,441	614,805
Long-term debt	1,793,945	1,793,895
Other	28,083	27,409
TOTAL	5,214,854	5,136,772
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	116,350	116,350
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	470	470
Paid-in capital	588,444	588,444
Retained earnings	988,703	990,702
TOTAL	1,577,617	1,579,616
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	7,810,174	7,819,445
Entergy Gulf States Louisiana [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	3,133	35,085
Temporary cash investments	776	601
Total cash and cash equivalents	3,909	35,686
Accounts receivable:
Customer	68,683	53,480
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(550)	(711)
Associated companies	94,524	71,697
Other	22,359	18,736
Accrued unbilled revenues	48,024	51,586
Total accounts receivable	233,040	194,788
Deferred fuel costs	15,918	0
Fuel inventory - at average cost	32,198	26,967
Materials and supplies - at average cost	119,196	121,289
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs	39,110	5,953
Gas hedge contracts	7,511	0
Prepaid taxes	0	0
Prepayments and other	10,256	7,911
TOTAL	461,138	392,594
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Investment in affiliates - at equity	289,664	289,664
Decommissioning trust funds	511,678	477,391
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	170,993	165,410
Escrow accounts	21,524	86,984
Other	13,847	13,404
TOTAL	1,007,706	1,032,853
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	7,301,763	7,279,953
Natural gas	137,571	135,723
Construction work in progress	117,203	125,448
Nuclear fuel	225,482	146,768
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	7,782,019	7,687,892
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	4,026,450	4,003,385
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	3,755,569	3,684,507
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	170,894	171,051
Other regulatory assets	382,656	409,653
Deferred fuel costs	100,124	100,124
Other	16,243	12,337
TOTAL	669,917	693,165
TOTAL ASSETS	5,894,330	5,803,119
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	75,000	75,000
Associated companies accounts payable	96,723	89,377
Other	127,931	97,509
Customer deposits	48,527	48,265
Taxes accrued	21,404	21,021
Accumulated deferred income taxes	40,640	22,249
Interest accrued	31,068	25,437
Deferred fuel costs	0	948
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	7,909	7,803
Gas hedge contracts	0	2,620
Other	12,751	11,999
TOTAL	461,953	402,228
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	1,414,707	1,403,195
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	77,558	78,312
Regulatory liability for income taxes - net	134,869	103,444
Decommissioning trust fund	386,269	380,822
Accumulated provisions	32,977	97,230
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	420,118	416,220
Long-term debt	1,562,489	1,442,429
Long-term payables of associated companies	29,107	29,510
Other	83,275	66,725
TOTAL	4,141,369	4,017,887
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(64,274)	(65,229)
Total common shareholders' equity	1,345,282	1,438,233
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	10,000	10,000
TOTAL	1,291,008	1,383,004
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	5,894,330	5,803,119
Entergy Louisiana [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	375	814
Temporary cash investments	9,638	29,272
Total cash and cash equivalents	10,013	30,086
Securitization recovery trust account	9,652	4,382
Accounts receivable:
Customer	157,052	86,072
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(1,119)	(867)
Associated companies	60,405	42,938
Other	8,224	9,354
Accrued unbilled revenues	73,122	79,354
Total accounts receivable	297,684	216,851
Deferred fuel costs	0	26,568
Accumulated deferred income taxes	51,809	113,319
Fuel inventory - at average cost	23,129	23,583
Materials and supplies - at average cost	151,452	152,170
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs	40,561	44,457
Gas hedge contracts	10,016	0
Prepaid taxes	4,387	7,937
Prepayments and other	15,543	12,129
TOTAL	614,246	631,482
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Investment in affiliates - at equity	807,423	807,423
Decommissioning trust funds	308,524	287,418
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	533	578
Escrow accounts	0	186,985
TOTAL	1,116,480	1,282,404
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	8,605,593	8,603,319
Property under capital lease	324,440	324,440
Construction work in progress	452,639	404,714
Nuclear fuel	179,235	204,019
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	9,561,907	9,536,492
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	3,634,215	3,590,146
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	5,927,692	5,946,346
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	196,216	193,114
Other regulatory assets	828,371	913,562
Deferred fuel costs	67,998	67,998
Other	44,043	39,178
TOTAL	1,136,628	1,213,852
TOTAL ASSETS	8,795,046	9,074,084
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	19,016	14,236
Short-term borrowings	54,396	54,657
Associated companies accounts payable	72,759	103,454
Other	160,721	266,904
Customer deposits	89,094	88,805
Taxes accrued	0	0
Accumulated deferred income taxes	3,533	0
Interest accrued	35,151	37,264
Deferred fuel costs	4,173	0
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	9,253	9,170
System agreement cost equalization	0	0
Gas hedge contracts	0	3,442
Other	17,311	13,382
TOTAL	465,407	591,314
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	913,296	930,606
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	69,481	70,193
Other regulatory liabilities	428,595	376,801
Decommissioning trust fund	423,422	418,122
Accumulated provisions	10,404	196,474
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	544,851	539,703
Long-term debt	2,794,902	2,811,859
Other	70,477	68,516
TOTAL	5,255,428	5,412,274
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(45,454)	(46,132)
Total common shareholders' equity	3,019,665	3,016,628
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	100,000	100,000
TOTAL	3,074,211	3,070,496
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	8,795,046	9,074,084
Entergy Mississippi [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	1,452	585
Temporary cash investments	10	52,385
Total cash and cash equivalents	1,462	52,970
Accounts receivable:
Customer	67,163	49,836
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(902)	(910)
Associated companies	6,903	25,504
Other	7,569	11,072
Accrued unbilled revenues	34,767	43,045
Total accounts receivable	115,500	128,547
Deferred fuel costs	14,274	26,490
Accumulated deferred income taxes	38,263	44,027
Fuel inventory - at average cost	49,033	48,778
Materials and supplies - at average cost	40,606	40,331
Gas hedge contracts	6,608	0
Prepayments and other	7,712	5,329
TOTAL	273,458	346,472
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	4,691	4,698
Escrow accounts	61,840	61,836
TOTAL	66,531	66,534
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	3,729,781	3,708,743
Property under capital lease	7,430	8,112
Construction work in progress	73,964	62,876
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	3,811,175	3,779,731
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	1,348,567	1,324,627
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	2,462,608	2,455,104
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	62,936	63,614
Other regulatory assets	403,318	401,471
Other	22,828	20,832
TOTAL	489,082	485,917
TOTAL ASSETS	3,291,679	3,354,027
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	0	100,000
Short-term borrowings	70,021	21
Associated companies accounts payable	45,539	42,377
Other	36,250	44,856
Customer deposits	72,221	71,182
Taxes accrued	11,067	52,327
Accumulated deferred income taxes	32	218
Interest accrued	20,118	18,226
Other	20,459	21,490
TOTAL	275,707	350,697
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	760,975	761,812
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	7,565	7,257
Obligations under capital leases	5,051	5,329
Other regulatory liabilities	7,981	1,235
Decommissioning trust fund	6,128	6,039
Accumulated provisions	35,819	35,820
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	160,693	160,866
Long-term debt	1,069,556	1,069,519
Other	26,350	25,426
TOTAL	2,080,118	2,073,303
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	50,381	50,381
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	199,326	199,326
Paid-in capital	(690)	(690)
Retained earnings	686,837	681,010
TOTAL	885,473	879,646
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	3,291,679	3,354,027
Entergy New Orleans
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	301	319
Temporary cash investments	4,270	9,072
Total cash and cash equivalents	4,571	9,391
Accounts receivable:
Customer	44,461	33,142
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(486)	(446)
Associated companies	34,165	29,326
Other	3,505	3,115
Accrued unbilled revenues	12,739	18,124
Total accounts receivable	94,384	83,261
Accumulated deferred income taxes	10,164	9,517
Fuel inventory - at average cost	1,409	1,777
Materials and supplies - at average cost	10,690	10,889
Prepaid taxes	1,776	1,377
Prepayments and other	14,280	3,201
TOTAL	137,274	119,413
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	1,016	1,016
Escrow accounts	12,783	10,605
TOTAL	13,799	11,621
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	866,738	860,358
Natural gas	219,417	217,769
Construction work in progress	13,821	11,135
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	1,099,976	1,089,262
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	557,099	549,587
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	542,877	539,675
Regulatory assets:
Other regulatory assets	198,582	202,003
Deferred fuel costs	4,080	4,080
Other	6,656	4,997
TOTAL	209,318	211,080
TOTAL ASSETS	903,268	881,789
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	70,000	70,000
Short-term borrowings	25,000	0
Associated companies accounts payable	29,120	28,778
Other	21,099	31,209
Customer deposits	22,206	21,974
Taxes accrued	0
Interest accrued	1,894	3,020
Deferred fuel costs	7,093	2,157
System agreement cost equalization	16,880	16,880
Other	5,460	3,479
TOTAL	198,752	177,497
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	175,342	172,790
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	1,246	1,300
Regulatory liability for income taxes - net	11,016	24,291
Other regulatory liabilities	22,754	11,060
Decommissioning trust fund	2,231	2,193
Accumulated provisions	17,292	15,031
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	83,748	83,790
Long-term debt	126,302	126,300
Gas system rebuild insurance proceeds	40,859	44,207
Other	7,315	7,985
TOTAL	488,105	488,947
Subsidiaries' preferred stock without sinking fund	19,780	19,780
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	33,744	33,744
Paid-in capital	36,294	36,294
Retained earnings	126,593	125,527
TOTAL	196,631	195,565
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	903,268	881,789
Entergy Texas [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	80	528
Temporary cash investments	30	59,708
Total cash and cash equivalents	110	60,236
Securitization recovery trust account	26,925	37,255
Accounts receivable:
Customer	41,105	53,836
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(635)	(680)
Associated companies	45,539	68,750
Other	8,324	10,450
Accrued unbilled revenues	35,625	38,252
Total accounts receivable	129,958	170,608
Accumulated deferred income taxes	28,754	34,988
Fuel inventory - at average cost	58,841	55,388
Materials and supplies - at average cost	30,515	32,853
System agreement cost equalization	16,880	16,880
Prepaid taxes	35,787	53,668
Prepayments and other	14,125	18,206
TOTAL	341,895	480,082
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Investment in affiliates - at equity	668	678
Non-utility property - at cost (less accumulated depreciation)	565	638
Other	17,753	17,263
TOTAL	18,986	18,579
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	3,511,218	3,475,776
Construction work in progress	84,711	90,469
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	3,595,929	3,566,245
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	1,347,393	1,332,349
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	2,248,536	2,233,896
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	130,490	131,287
Other regulatory assets	1,090,563	1,114,536
Long-term receivables - associated companies	29,107	29,510
Other	21,208	17,891
TOTAL	1,271,368	1,293,224
TOTAL ASSETS	3,880,785	4,025,781
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Associated companies accounts payable	108,481	88,743
Other	53,508	65,261
Customer deposits	38,319	38,859
Taxes accrued	0	0
Interest accrued	23,403	32,166
Deferred fuel costs	16,419	93,334
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	837	853
System agreement cost equalization	0	8,968
Other	2,091	2,839
TOTAL	243,058	331,023
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	971,241	1,009,081
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	17,344	17,743
Other regulatory liabilities	6,760	6,150
Decommissioning trust fund	4,163	4,103
Accumulated provisions	8,298	6,609
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	153,143	155,241
Long-term debt	1,595,957	1,617,813
Other	25,753	23,872
TOTAL	2,782,659	2,840,612
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	49,452	49,452
Paid-in capital	481,994	481,994
Retained earnings	323,622	322,700
TOTAL	855,068	854,146
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	3,880,785	4,025,781
System Energy [Member]
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	1,728	100
Temporary cash investments	15,377	83,522
Total cash and cash equivalents	17,105	83,622
Accounts receivable:
Associated companies	109,567	93,381
Other	4,259	5,904
Total accounts receivable	113,826	99,285
Accumulated deferred income taxes	53,719	74,331
Materials and supplies - at average cost	83,194	82,443
Deferred nuclear refueling outage costs	27,556	35,155
Prepayments and other	8,906	2,080
TOTAL	304,306	376,916
OTHER PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS
Decommissioning trust funds	528,162	490,572
TOTAL	528,162	490,572
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Electric	3,995,665	3,987,672
Property under capital lease	569,355	569,355
Construction work in progress	39,513	40,392
Nuclear fuel	225,466	252,682
TOTAL PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT	4,829,999	4,850,101
Less - accumulated depreciation and amortization	2,600,781	2,568,862
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - NET	2,229,218	2,281,239
Regulatory assets:
Regulatory asset for income taxes - net	124,604	126,503
Other regulatory assets	326,189	330,074
Other	17,703	18,212
TOTAL	468,496	474,789
TOTAL ASSETS	3,530,182	3,623,516
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Currently maturing long-term debt	119,229	111,854
Short-term borrowings	20,189	39,986
Associated companies accounts payable	7,400	5,564
Other	19,536	44,433
Taxes accrued	164,239	181,477
Accumulated deferred income taxes	1,420	1,789
Interest accrued	15,780	15,619
Other	2,440	2,429
TOTAL	350,233	403,151
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accumulated deferred income taxes and taxes accrued	791,637	782,469
Accumulated deferred investment tax credits	55,547	56,188
Other regulatory liabilities	268,378	256,024
Decommissioning trust fund	487,002	478,371
Pension and other postretirement liabilities	142,883	142,617
Long-term debt	623,697	671,945
Other	70	22
TOTAL	2,369,214	2,387,636
Common Shareholders' Equity:
Common stock	789,350	789,350
Retained earnings	21,385	43,379
TOTAL	810,735	832,729
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY	$ 3,530,182	$ 3,623,516