RATE AND OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS (Details 2) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	24 Months Ended			3 Months Ended						3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended						3 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jul. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012 Deferred Income Tax Charges [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Deferred Income Tax Charges [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Under-collections-electric fuel adjustment clause	Dec. 31, 2011 Under-collections-electric fuel adjustment clause	Sep. 30, 2012 Environmental remediation costs	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental remediation costs	Sep. 30, 2012 Asset Retirement Obligation Costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Asset Retirement Obligation Costs [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Franchise agreements	Dec. 31, 2011 Franchise agreements	Sep. 30, 2012 Deferred employee benefit plan costs	Dec. 31, 2011 Deferred employee benefit plan costs	Sep. 30, 2012 Planned major maintenance	Dec. 31, 2011 Planned major maintenance	Sep. 30, 2012 Deferred losses on interest rate derivatives	Dec. 31, 2011 Deferred losses on interest rate derivatives	Sep. 30, 2012 Deferred pollution control costs	Dec. 31, 2011 Deferred pollution control costs	Sep. 30, 2012 Other.	Dec. 31, 2011 Other.	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G	Sep. 30, 2011 SCE&G	Dec. 31, 2011 SCE&G	Jul. 31, 2011 SCE&G	Dec. 31, 2010 SCE&G	May 01, 2011 SCE&G	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G Deferred Income Tax Charges [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G Asset Retirement Obligation Costs [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G Franchise agreements	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G Deferred employee benefit plan costs
Regulatory Assets:
Power Generation Capacity Megawatts																											1,117	1,117
Public Utilities, Property, Plant and Equipment, Amount of Loss (Recovery) on Plant Abandonment																												$ 418,000,000
Public Utilities, Property, Plant and Equipment, Description of Plant Abandonment																												22506309
Storm Damage Reserve Cost Applied																												4,600,000	3,600,000
Public Utilities, Increase (Decrease) in Retail Natural Gas Rates Requested and Approved under RSA																												151,500,000		7.5		8.6
Public Utilities, Property, Plant and Equipment Identifiable Capital Costs	283,000,000
Capital Cost Related to New Federal Healthcare Etc.			6,000,000
Share in Approved Capital Costs						8,000,000																											173,900,000
Public Utilities Additional Labor Expenses for Oversight of New Units			132,000,000
Regulatory assets		1,290,000,000	1,290,000,000		1,279,000,000		244,000,000	243,000,000	0	28,000,000	44,000,000	30,000,000	321,000,000	316,000,000	37,000,000	40,000,000	390,000,000	392,000,000	0	6,000,000	159,000,000	154,000,000	35,000,000	25,000,000	60,000,000	45,000,000	1,216,000,000	1,216,000,000		1,206,000,000					0	0
Regulatory assets, expected recovery period (in years)		30					70						95		20						30				30									70			12
Public Utilities Base Fuel under Collected Balance Recovery Period			12																									12
MPG enviromental remediatio																												28
Environmental Remediation Costs Recognized in Regulatory Assets																											38,600,000	38,600,000
Amount Recovered Through Electric Rates to Offset Turbine Expenses				$ 18,400,000
Accrual period of nuclear refueling charges (in months)		18																									18
Public Utilities, Percent Increase (Decrease) in Retail Natural Gas Rates																														2.10%		2.10%
Public Utilities, Percent Increase (Decrease) in Retail Electric Rates																												6.61%		3.75%	4.88%
power generation capacity six coal fired units																											730	730