Fair Value (Nonrecurring Measurements) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended					3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014 East Bend DPL [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Ebute [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 UK Wind (Newfield) [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 DPLER [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 DPLER [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Buffalo Gap [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] East Bend DPL [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] UK Wind (Newfield) [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Beaver Valley [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Long Lived Assets Held For Sale [Member] Wind turbines [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Cameroon [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Ukraine utilities [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Goodwill [Member] DPLER [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Goodwill [Member] Buffalo Gap [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] East Bend DPL [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] UK Wind (Newfield) [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Beaver Valley [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held For Sale [Member] Wind turbines [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Carrying Amount [Member] Long Lived Assets Held For Sale [Member] Wind turbines [Member] Level 2 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Cameroon [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Carrying Amount [Member] Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Ukraine utilities [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Goodwill [Member] DPLER [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Carrying Amount [Member] Goodwill [Member] Buffalo Gap [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Ebute and Silver Ridge Power [Member] Level 3 [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] East Bend DPL [Member] Level 2 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member] Level 2 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member] Level 3 [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Beaver Valley [Member] Level 1 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Beaver Valley [Member] Level 2 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Beaver Valley [Member] Level 3 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held For Sale [Member] Wind turbines [Member] Level 3 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Long Lived Assets Held For Sale [Member] Ukraine utilities [Member] Level 3 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Cameroon [Member] Level 2 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2013 Fair Value [Member] Discontinued operations and held for sale businesses [Member] Ukraine utilities [Member] Level 2 [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member] Level 3 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Fair Value [Member] Goodwill [Member] Buffalo Gap [Member] Level 3 [Member]		Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Minimum [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Minimum [Member] Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Maximum [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Maximum [Member] Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Weighted Average [Member] Long Lived Assets Held And Used [Member] Ebute [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Discounted Cash Flow [Member] Weighted Average [Member] Equity Method Investee [Member] Silver Ridge Power [Member]
Fair Value Assets And Liabilities Measured On Nonrecurring Basis [Abstract]
Fair Value, Nonrecurring					$ 2,000,000	$ 47,000,000	$ 0																						$ 14,000,000	[1]	$ 99,000,000	[1]	$ 11,000,000	[1]	$ 61,000,000	[1]	$ 25,000,000	[1]	$ 25,000,000	[1]	$ 372,000,000	[2]	$ 143,000,000	$ 317,000,000	$ 136,000,000	[3]	$ 28,000,000	[3]	$ 320,000,000	$ 2,000,000	[1]	$ 0	[1]	$ 47,000,000	$ 0	[1]	$ 0	[1]	$ 15,000,000	[1]	$ 0	[1]	$ 0	[1]	$ 340,000,000	[2]	$ 113,000,000	$ 273,000,000	[4]	$ 10,000,000	[3]
Total other non-operating expense	44,000,000	0	44,000,000	0																				44,000,000
Impairment expenses			273,000,000	48,000,000							12,000,000	[1]	52,000,000	[1]	11,000,000	[1]	46,000,000	[1]	0	[1]	38,000,000	[2]
Goodwill impairment expense	$ 0	$ 0	$ 154,000,000	$ 0				$ 0	$ 136,000,000	$ 18,000,000													$ 34,000,000		$ 136,000,000	[3]	$ 18,000,000	[3]
Annual Revenue Growth Input																																																																									0.00%	(57.00%)	1.00%	1.00%	1.00%	(4.00%)
Pretax Operating Margin Input																																																																									0.00%	(115.00%)	47.00%	50.00%	24.00%	6.00%
Fair Value Inputs, Cost of Equity																																																																										13.00%		16.00%		14.00%
Weighted Average Cost Of Capital Input																																																																								10.30%

[1] See Note 15 — Asset Impairment Expense for further information.

[2] See Note 17 — Discontinued Operations and Held-For-Sale Businesses for further information. Also, the gross loss equals the carrying amount of the disposal group less its fair value less costs to sell.

[3] See Note 14 — Goodwill Impairments for further information.

[4] The fair value for Silver Ridge Power was determined using a combination of the bid price (a level 2 input) obtained for the sale of AES’ interest in solar photovoltaic projects in operation and under development in Bulgaria, France, Greece, India and the United States, and a discounted cash flow model for the solar photovoltaic projects that were retained in Italy, Puerto Rico and Spain.