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Commitments and Contingencies, Environmental Contingencies - Site Contingencies (Details) (USD $)
3 Months Ended 1 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Site
Apr. 30, 2015
Dec. 31, 2014
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites, current $ 26,125,000us-gaap_AccruedEnvironmentalLossContingenciesCurrent   $ 29,116,000us-gaap_AccruedEnvironmentalLossContingenciesCurrent
Ashland MGP Site      
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Number of properties included in superfund site which NSP-Wisconsin does not own 2nspw_NumberOfPropertiesNotOwnedIncludedInSuperfundSite
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
   
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites 112,400,000us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingenciesGross
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
  107,600,000us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingenciesGross
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites, current 26,000,000us-gaap_AccruedEnvironmentalLossContingenciesCurrent
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
  28,900,000us-gaap_AccruedEnvironmentalLossContingenciesCurrent
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
Amortization period for recovery of remediation costs in natural gas rates, low end of range (in years) 4 years    
Amortization period for recovery of remediation costs in natural gas rates, high end of range (in years) 6 years    
Ashland MGP Site - Phase I Project Area      
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites 57,000,000us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingenciesGross
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSitePhaseIProjectAreaMember
   
Estimated amount spent on Phase I Project Area cleanup 33,000,000nspw_EstimatedamountspentonPhaseIProjectAreacleanup
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSitePhaseIProjectAreaMember
   
Approved amortization period for recovery of remediation costs in natural gas rates (in years) 10 years    
Carrying cost percentage to be applied to the unamortized regulatory asset for MGP remediation (in hundredths) 3.00%nspw_CarryingCostPercentageToBeAppliedToUnamortizedRegulatoryAssetForMgpRemediation
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSitePhaseIProjectAreaMember
   
Approved increase (decrease) in amortization expense granted by a regulatory body 1,100,000nspw_Approvedincreasedecreaseinamortizationexpensegrantedbyaregulatorybody
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSitePhaseIProjectAreaMember
   
Ashland MGP Site - Sediments      
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Estimated cost of remediating site, low end of range 63,000,000nspw_SiteContingencyLossExposureLowEndOfRange
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteSedimentsMember
   
Estimated cost of remediating site, high end of range 77,000,000nspw_SiteContingencyLossExposureHighEndOfRange
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteSedimentsMember
   
Potential percent of increase to the high end of the range of estimated site remediation costs (in hundredths) 50.00%nspw_PotentialPercentOfIncreaseToHighEndOfRangeOfEstimatedSiteRemediationCosts
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteSedimentsMember
   
Potential percent of decrease to the low end of the range of estimated site remediation costs (in hundredths) 30.00%nspw_PotentialPercentOfDecreaseToLowEndOfRangeOfEstimatedSiteRemediationCosts
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteSedimentsMember
   
NSP-Wisconsin | Ashland MGP Site      
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Number of PRPs that have reached a settlement in principle 2nspw_NumberofPRPsthathavereachedasettlementinprinciple
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
/ dei_LegalEntityAxis
= nspw_NSPWisconsinMember
   
Site Contingency, Recovery from Third Party of Environmental Remediation Cost 10,500,000us-gaap_SiteContingencyRecoveryFromThirdPartyOfEnvironmentalRemediationCost
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
/ dei_LegalEntityAxis
= nspw_NSPWisconsinMember
   
Subsequent Event [Member] | NSP-Wisconsin | Ashland MGP Site      
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]      
Site Contingency, Recovery from Third Party of Environmental Remediation Cost   $ 5,400,000us-gaap_SiteContingencyRecoveryFromThirdPartyOfEnvironmentalRemediationCost
/ us-gaap_EnvironmentalRemediationSiteAxis
= nspw_AshlandMgpSiteMember
/ dei_LegalEntityAxis
= nspw_NSPWisconsinMember
/ us-gaap_SubsequentEventTypeAxis
= us-gaap_SubsequentEventMember