Financial Statement Presentation	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION	FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION The prior-period condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”) have been reclassified to reflect the businesses held-for-sale and discontinued operations as discussed in Note 16 — Discontinued Operations and Held-for-Sale Businesses. Consolidation In this Quarterly Report the terms “AES,” “the Company,” “us” or “we” refer to the consolidated entity including its subsidiaries and affiliates. The terms “The AES Corporation,” “the Parent” or “the Parent Company” refer only to the publicly held holding company, The AES Corporation, excluding its subsidiaries and affiliates. Furthermore, variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in which the Company has a variable interest have been consolidated where the Company is the primary beneficiary. Investments in which the Company has the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. Correction of an error Certain amounts related to the payment of costs for the construction of our Mong Duong facility in Vietnam were misclassified as an investing activity on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013. The error was related to costs that were paid under extended payment terms as allowed by the construction contract, and therefore should have been reflected as financing activities in accordance with the accounting guidance for cash flows. As a result, cash flows used in investing activities were overstated by $145 million and cash flows used in financing activities were understated by $145 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Cash flows used in investing activities were previously reported as $726 million and have now been restated to $581 million. Cash flows provided by financing activities were previously reported as $455 million and have now been restated to $310 million. There was no impact on amounts presented on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Interim Financial Presentation The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and footnotes have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), as contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification, for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, they do not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for annual fiscal reporting periods. In the opinion of management, the interim financial information includes all adjustments of a normal recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position, comprehensive income and cash flows. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the 2013 audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included in the 2013 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2014 (the “2013 Form 10-K”). New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted ASU No. 2013-11, Income Taxes (Topic 740), "Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force)." Effective January 1, 2014, the Company prospectively adopted ASU No. 2013-11, which requires the netting of unrecognized tax benefits (“UTBs”) against a deferred tax asset for a loss or other carryforward that would apply in settlement of uncertain tax positions. Under ASU No. 2013-11, UTBs are netted against all available same-jurisdiction loss or other tax carryforwards that would be utilized, rather than only against carryforwards that are created by the UTBs. The impact to the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of March 31, 2014 was a reduction of $66 million to “Other noncurrent liabilities” and an offsetting increase to “Deferred income taxes” under “Noncurrent Liabilities.” There were no impacts on the results of operations and cash flows. Accounting Pronouncements Issued But Not Yet Effective The following accounting standards have been issued, but are not yet effective for, and have not been adopted by AES. ASU No. 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant and Equipment (Topic 360), Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity In April 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-08, which significantly changes the existing accounting guidance on discontinued operations. Under ASU No. 2014-08, only those disposals of components of an entity that represent a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on an entity’s operations and financial results will be reported as discontinued operations. Amongst other changes: equity method investments that were previously scoped-out of the discontinued operations accounting guidance are now included in the scope; a business can meet the criteria to be classified as held for sale upon acquisition and can be reported in discontinued operations; and components where an entity retains significant continuing involvement or where operations and cash flows will not be eliminated from ongoing operations as a result of a disposal transaction can meet the definition of discontinued operations. Additionally, where summarized amounts are presented on the face of financial statements, reconciliations of those amounts to major classes of line items are also required. ASU No. 2014-08 requires additional disclosures for individually material components that do not meet the definition of discontinued operations. ASU No. 2014-08 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2014 and interim periods therein. ASU No. 2014-08 should be applied to components classified as held for sale after its effective date. Early adoption is permitted, but only for disposals (or classifications as held for sale) that have not been reported in financial statements previously issued. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU No. 2014-08 on its financial position and results of operations. The adoption is expected to reduce the number of disposals that meet the definition of a discontinued operations.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION

The prior-period condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”) have been reclassified to reflect the businesses held-for-sale and discontinued operations as discussed in Note 16 — Discontinued Operations and Held-for-Sale Businesses.

Consolidation

In this Quarterly Report the terms “AES,” “the Company,” “us” or “we” refer to the consolidated entity including its subsidiaries and affiliates. The terms “The AES Corporation,” “the Parent” or “the Parent Company” refer only to the publicly held holding company, The AES Corporation, excluding its subsidiaries and affiliates. Furthermore, variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in which the Company has a variable interest have been consolidated where the Company is the primary beneficiary. Investments in which the Company has the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Correction of an error

Certain amounts related to the payment of costs for the construction of our Mong Duong facility in Vietnam were misclassified as an investing activity on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013. The error was related to costs that were paid under extended payment terms as allowed by the construction contract, and therefore should have been reflected as financing activities in accordance with the accounting guidance for cash flows. As a result, cash flows used in investing activities were overstated by $145 million and cash flows used in financing activities were understated by $145 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. Cash flows used in investing activities were previously reported as $726 million and have now been restated to $581 million. Cash flows provided by financing activities were previously reported as $455 million and have now been restated to $310 million. There was no impact on amounts presented on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013.

Interim Financial Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and footnotes have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), as contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification, for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, they do not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for annual fiscal reporting periods. In the opinion of management, the interim financial information includes all adjustments of a normal recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position, comprehensive income and cash flows. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the 2013 audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included in the 2013 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2014 (the “2013 Form 10-K”).

New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted

ASU No. 2013-11, Income Taxes (Topic 740), "Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force)."

Effective January 1, 2014, the Company prospectively adopted ASU No. 2013-11, which requires the netting of unrecognized tax benefits (“UTBs”) against a deferred tax asset for a loss or other carryforward that would apply in settlement of uncertain tax positions. Under ASU No. 2013-11, UTBs are netted against all available same-jurisdiction loss or other tax carryforwards that would be utilized, rather than only against carryforwards that are created by the UTBs. The impact to the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of March 31, 2014 was a reduction of $66 million to “Other noncurrent liabilities” and an offsetting increase to “Deferred income taxes” under “Noncurrent Liabilities.” There were no impacts on the results of operations and cash flows.

Accounting Pronouncements Issued But Not Yet Effective

The following accounting standards have been issued, but are not yet effective for, and have not been adopted by AES.

ASU No. 2014-08, Presentation of Financial Statements (Topic 205) and Property, Plant and Equipment (Topic 360), Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity

In April 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-08, which significantly changes the existing accounting guidance on discontinued operations. Under ASU No. 2014-08, only those disposals of components of an entity that represent a strategic shift that has (or will have) a major effect on an entity’s operations and financial results will be reported as discontinued operations. Amongst other changes: equity method investments that were previously scoped-out of the discontinued operations accounting guidance are now included in the scope; a business can meet the criteria to be classified as held for sale upon acquisition and can be reported in discontinued operations; and components where an entity retains significant continuing involvement or where operations and cash flows will not be eliminated from ongoing operations as a result of a disposal transaction can meet the definition of discontinued operations. Additionally, where summarized amounts are presented on the face of financial statements, reconciliations of those amounts to major classes of line items are also required. ASU No. 2014-08 requires additional disclosures for individually material components that do not meet the definition of discontinued operations. ASU No. 2014-08 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2014 and interim periods therein. ASU No. 2014-08 should be applied to components classified as held for sale after its effective date. Early adoption is permitted, but only for disposals (or classifications as held for sale) that have not been reported in financial statements previously issued. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting ASU No. 2014-08 on its financial position and results of operations. The adoption is expected to reduce the number of disposals that meet the definition of a discontinued operations.