Asset Retirement Obligations - Roll-Forward (Details) - Arizona Public Service Company $ in Thousands	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)
Change in asset retirement obligations
Asset retirement obligations at the beginning of year	$ 443,576
Changes attributable to:
Accretion expense	13,112
Settlements	(5,224)
Newly incurred liabilities	10,373
Asset retirement obligations at the end of year	$ 461,837

The carrying amount of a liability for an asset retirement obligation. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Asset Retirement Obligation
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6505190

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- References

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- Definition

Amount of accretion expense recognized during the period that is associated with an asset retirement obligation. Accretion expense measures and incorporates changes due to the passage of time into the carrying amount of the liability.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392676&loc=d3e7480-110848

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- Definition

Amount of asset retirement obligations incurred during the period.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of asset retirement obligations settled, or otherwise disposed of, during the period. This may include asset retirement obligations transferred to third parties associated with the sale of a long-lived asset.

+ References

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- Definition

A roll forward is a reconciliation of a concept from the beginning of a period to the end of a period.

+ References

No definition available.

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