Acquisitions and Dispositions (Details)	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Feb. 09, 2012 USD ($) mw	Feb. 09, 2012 EUR (€)	Jun. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 20, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Preliminary USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Revisions USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Updated USD ($)
Acquisitions [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price											$ 3,500,000,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired											100.00%
Pro Forma Information
Electric Utility Revenue			4,192,000,000	4,435,000,000	8,932,000,000	8,591,000,000	385,000,000		816,000,000
Net Income Loss Attributable To The AES Corporation			140,000,000	174,000,000	481,000,000	398,000,000	5,000,000		27,000,000
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Revenue								4,866,000,000		9,489,000,000
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Net Income (Loss)								186,000,000		406,000,000
Business Acquisition Pro Forma Adjustments Net Of Tax Total				(20,000,000)		(68,000,000)
Purchase Price Allocation
Cash												116,000,000	0	116,000,000
Accounts receivable												278,000,000	0	278,000,000
Inventory												124,000,000	0	124,000,000
Other current assets												41,000,000	(1,000,000)	40,000,000
Property, plant and equipment												2,549,000,000	(114,000,000)	2,435,000,000
Intangible assets subject to amortization												166,000,000	4,000,000	170,000,000
Intangible assets - indefinite-lived												5,000,000	0	5,000,000
Regulatory assets												201,000,000	1,000,000	202,000,000
Other noncurrent assets												58,000,000	0	58,000,000
Current liabilities												(401,000,000)	0	(401,000,000)
Non-recourse debt												(1,255,000,000)	0	(1,255,000,000)
Deferred taxes												(558,000,000)	39,000,000	(519,000,000)
Regulatory liabilities												(117,000,000)	1,000,000	(116,000,000)
Other noncurrent liabilities												(195,000,000)	0	(195,000,000)
Redeemable preferred stock												(18,000,000)	0	(18,000,000)
Net identifiable assets acquired												994,000,000	(70,000,000)	924,000,000
Goodwill												2,489,000,000	70,000,000	2,559,000,000
Net assets acquired												3,483,000,000	0	3,483,000,000
Dispositions
Cartagena ownership interest sold	80.00%	80.00%
Cartagena generation capacity (MW)	1,199	1,199
Cartagena ownership interest prior to sale	70.81%	70.81%
Proceeds from sale of ownership interest in Cartagena	229,000,000	172,000,000
Acquirer's option to purchase additional ownership interest in Cartagena	20.00%	20.00%
Price to exercise option to purchase remaining interest of Cartagena	37,000,000	28,000,000
Amount recovered by Cartagena from GDF	95,000,000	71,000,000
Proceeds received on the settlement with GDF	38,000,000	28,000,000
Gain on sale of Cartagena	178,000,000
Deferred gain on sale of Cartagena	9,000,000
Proceeds from sale of St. Patrick and InnoVent			$ 42,000,000