Commitments and Contingencies, Environmental Contingencies (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013 Site	Dec. 31, 2012
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites, current	$ 23,200,000	$ 23,427,000
Ashland MGP Site [Member]
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]
Number of properties included in superfund site which NSP-Wisconsin does not own	2
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites	103,800,000	103,700,000
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites, current	18,100,000	20,100,000
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 [Member]
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]
Liability for estimated cost of remediating sites	40,000,000
Number of acres of land to be conveyed to the State of Wisconsin and tribes (in acres)	1,390
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%
Ashland MGP Site - Sediments [Member]
Ashland Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) Site [Abstract]
Estimated cost of remediating site, low end of range	63,000,000
Estimated cost of remediating site, high end of range	$ 77,000,000
Potential percent of increase to the high end of the range of estimated site remediation costs (in hundredths)	50.00%
Potential percent of decrease to the low end of the range of estimated site remediation costs (in hundredths)	30.00%