Condensed Consolidated Statements Of Operations (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2011
Revenue:
Regulated	$ 2,620	$ 2,349
Non-Regulated	2,120	1,807
Total Revenue	4,740	4,156
Cost of Sales:
Regulated	(2,182)	(1,773)
Non-Regulated	(1,480)	(1,390)
Total cost of sales	(3,662)	(3,163)
Gross margin	1,078	993
General and administrative expenses	(87)	(95)
Interest expense	(416)	(338)
Interest income	91	95
Other expense	(29)	(15)
Other income	18	16
Gain on sale of investments	179	6
Asset impairment expense	(11)	0
Foreign currency transaction gains (losses)	(1)	33
Other non-operating expense	(49)	0
INCOME FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE TAXES AND EQUITY IN EARNINGS OF AFFILIATES	773	695
Income tax expense	(267)	(215)
Net equity in earnings of affiliates	13	10
INCOME FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS	519	490
Income (loss) from operations of discontinued businesses, net of income tax (benefit) expense of $2 and $(3), respectively	1	(7)
Net gain (loss) from disposal and impairments of discontinued businesses, net of income tax expense of $0 and $0, respectively	(5)	0
NET INCOME	515	483
Noncontrolling interests:
Income from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests	174	253
Income from discontinued operations attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	6
Total net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(174)	(259)
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE AES CORPORATION	341	224
BASIC EARNINGS PER SHARE:
Income from continuing operations attributable to The AES Corporation common stockholders, net of tax	$ 0.45	$ 0.30
Discontinued operations attributable to The AES Corporation common stockholders, net of tax	$ 0	$ (0.02)
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE AES CORPORATION COMMON STOCKHOLDERS	$ 0.45	$ 0.28
DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE:
Income from continuing operations attributable to The AES Corporation common stockholders, net of tax	$ 0.44	$ 0.30
Discontinued operations attributable to The AES Corporation common stockholders, net of tax	$ 0	$ (0.02)
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE AES CORPORATION COMMON STOCKHOLDERS	$ 0.44	$ 0.28
AMOUNTS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE AES CORPORATION COMMON STOCKHOLDERS:
Income from continuing operations, net of tax	345	237
Discontinued operations, net of tax	(4)	(13)
NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE AES CORPORATION	$ 341	$ 224