Debt Credit Facility Additional Information (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 23, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Write off of Deferred Debt Issuance Cost	$ 821,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount			$ 725,000,000
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity			500,000,000
Standby Letters of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity	300,000,000	$ 300,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Remaining Borrowing Capacity	250,200,000	$ 250,200,000
Secured Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Collateral		All obligations under the 2015 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 2015 credit facility, are guaranteed by the foreign subsidiary and by its direct and indirect foreign parents.
USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount			$ 225,000,000
Multicurrency revolving line of credit
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity	50,000,000	$ 50,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding				$ 91,469,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount	49,800,000	49,800,000
Line of Credit Facility, Remaining Borrowing Capacity	$ 244,472,000	$ 244,472,000		518,132,000	[1]
Minimum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Unused Capacity, Commitment Fee Percentage		0.175%
Maximum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Unused Capacity, Commitment Fee Percentage		0.30%
Alternate base rate (1) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the prime rate
Alternate base rate (2) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the Federal Reserve effective rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		0.50%
Alternate base rate (3) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		one month LIBOR
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.00%
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the LIBOR rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.50%
Applicable Interest Rate	1.69%	1.69%
EURIBOR [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		EURIBOR rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.50%
Applicable Interest Rate	1.50%	1.50%
Alternate base rate [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		Alternate Base Rate
Deferred Costs [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Issuance Cost	$ 3,800,000
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2014 through June 2016 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		$ 2,800,000
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2017 through June 2018 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		4,200,000
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2018 through March 2020 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		5,600,000
Reported Value Measurement [Member] | Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding	$ 147,958,000	$ 147,958,000		$ 91,469,000

[1] Refer to Note 6 for details regarding our secured credit facilities.