Income Taxes (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

(5) Income Taxes

The effective tax rate was 30% for the three-month period endedMarch 31, 2013 compared to 27% for 2012. The increase in PacifiCorp's effective tax rate for the three-month period endedMarch 31, 2013 compared to the prior period was primarily due to changes in unrecognized tax benefits in the prior period and lower production tax credits associated with PacifiCorp's wind‑powered generating facilities.

Berkshire Hathaway includes MEHC and its subsidiaries in its United States federal income tax return. Consistent with established regulatory practice, PacifiCorp's provision for income taxes has been computed on a stand-alone basis, and substantially all of its currently payable or receivable income taxes are remitted to or received from MEHC. For the three-month period endedMarch 31, 2013, PacifiCorp made net cash payments for income taxes to MEHC totaling $43 million. For the three-month period endedMarch 31, 2012, PacifiCorp received net cash payments for income taxes from MEHC totaling $1 million.