Schedule I - Condensed Financial Information of Parent (Guarantees and Letters of Credit) (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) agreement
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations number of agreements \| agreement	43
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 789,000,000
Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Letter of credit, fee range minimum	0.20%
Letter of credit, fee range maximum	2.50%
Guarantees \| Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations, Minimum Individual Exposures	$ 8,000,000
Obligations, individual exposures (minimum less than $1 million)	$ 58,000,000
Guarantees and Asset Sale Related Indemnities (Combined) [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations number of agreements \| agreement	19
Guarantees and Asset Sale Related Indemnities (Combined) [Member] \| Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations maximum exposure, total	$ 535,000,000
Letter of Credit \| Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations, individual exposures (minimum less than $1 million)	1,000,000
Cash Collateralized Letters Of Credit \| Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations maximum exposure, total	3,000,000
Obligations, Minimum Individual Exposures	2,000,000
Obligations, individual exposures (minimum less than $1 million)	3,000,000
Cash Collateralized Letters Of Credit \| Parent Company \| Maximum
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations, individual exposures (minimum less than $1 million)	$ 73,000,000
Standby Letters of Credit [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations number of agreements \| agreement	15
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 6,000,000
Financial Standby Letter of Credit [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations number of agreements \| agreement	1
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 3,000,000
Unsecured Debt [Member] \| Financial Standby Letter of Credit [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Obligations number of agreements \| agreement	8
Secured Debt [Member] \| Financial Standby Letter of Credit [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 245,000,000

The maximum of the per annum range of letter of credit fees as a percent of the outstanding amount.

No definition available.

Name:	aes_LetterOfCreditFeeRangeMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The minimum of the per annum range of letter of credit fees as a percent of the outstanding amount.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aes_LetterOfCreditFeeRangeMinimum
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Total maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the Parent Company could be required to make under the obligation or each group of similar obligations before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aes_ObligationsMaximumExposureTotal
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Obligations, Maximum Individual Exposures

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aes_ObligationsMaximumIndividualExposures
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Obligations, Minimum Individual Exposures, Less Than Stated Amount

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aes_ObligationsMinimumIndividualExposuresLessThanStatedAmount
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of agreements under which the Parent Company has contingent contractual obligations.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aes_ObligationsNumberOfAgreements
Namespace Prefix:	aes_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CondensedFinancialStatementsCaptionsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6851643&loc=d3e12069-110248

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsMaximumExposure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=us-gaap_ParentCompanyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	aes_ContingentContractualObligationsByTypeAxis=us-gaap_GuaranteesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	aes_ContingentContractualObligationsByTypeAxis=aes_GuaranteesandAssetSaleRelatedIndemnitiesCombinedMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	aes_ContingentContractualObligationsByTypeAxis=us-gaap_LetterOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	aes_ContingentContractualObligationsByTypeAxis=aes_CashCollateralizedLettersOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesByNatureOfContingencyAxis=us-gaap_StandbyLettersOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesByNatureOfContingencyAxis=us-gaap_FinancialStandbyLetterOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_UnsecuredDebtMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_SecuredDebtMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: