Debt Credit Facility Additional Information (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 Secured Debt [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 2011 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 2011 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member]	Apr. 02, 2012 2011 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member]	Aug. 05, 2011 2011 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2013 through June 2014 [Domain]	Dec. 31, 2013 Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2014 through June 2016 [Domain]	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Alternate base rate (1) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Alternate base rate (2) [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Alternate base rate (3) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis										the LIBOR rate	the prime rate	the Federal Reserve effective rate	one month LIBOR
Proceeds from Lines of Credit		$ 35,000,000	$ 80,000,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount					300,000,000
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity		660,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Unused Capacity, Commitment Fee Percentage								0.20%	0.40%
Debt Instrument, Collateral	All obligations under the 2011 credit facility are guaranteed by Itron, Inc. and material U.S. domestic subsidiaries and are secured by a pledge of substantially all of the assets of Itron, Inc. and material U.S. domestic subsidiaries, including a pledge of 100% of the capital stock of material U.S. domestic subsidiaries and up to 66% of the voting stock (100% of the non-voting stock) of their first-tier foreign subsidiaries. In addition, the obligations of any foreign subsidiary who is a foreign borrower, as defined by the 2011 credit facility, are guaranteed by the foreign subsidiary and by its direct and indirect foreign parents.
Repayments of Secured Debt						5,600,000	7,500,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate at Period End										1.67%
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate										1.50%		0.50%	1.00%
Multicurrency revolving line of credit		120,000,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount		49,500,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity		490,500,000
Unamortized prepaid debt fees				$ 897,000