Acquisitions and Dispositions (Details)	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended							3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Feb. 09, 2012 USD ($) MW	Feb. 09, 2012 EUR (€)	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] Property, plant and equipment [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] Intangible assets subject to amortization [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] Regulatory Assets [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] Out of market coal contract [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] Finalization of entity's standalone federal tax return [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 20, 2011 DPL Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Purchase Price Allocation Preliminary [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Purchase Price Allocation Adjustments [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 DPL Acquisition [Member] Purchase Price Allocation Updated [Member] USD ($)
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			4,587,000,000	4,307,000,000	13,519,000,000	12,898,000,000						472,000,000		1,288,000,000
Net Income Loss Attributable To The AES Corporation			(1,568,000,000)	(131,000,000)	(1,087,000,000)	267,000,000						(1,802,000,000)		(1,775,000,000)
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Revenue													4,820,000,000		14,309,000,000
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Net Income (Loss)													(69,000,000)		336,000,000
Business Acquisition Pro Forma Adjustments Net Of Tax Total				(5,000,000)		73,000,000
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	0	41,000,000
Property, plant and equipment																	2,549,000,000	(71,000,000)	2,478,000,000
Intangible assets subject to amortization																	166,000,000	(19,000,000)	147,000,000
Intangible assets - indefinite-lived																	5,000,000	0	5,000,000
Regulatory assets																	201,000,000	16,000,000	217,000,000
Other noncurrent assets																	58,000,000	0	58,000,000
Current liabilities																	(401,000,000)	(5,000,000)	(406,000,000)
Non-recourse debt																	(1,255,000,000)	0	(1,255,000,000)
Deferred taxes							25,000,000	7,000,000	(21,000,000)	12,000,000	(16,000,000)						(558,000,000)	7,000,000	(551,000,000)
Regulatory liabilities																	(117,000,000)	0	(117,000,000)
Other noncurrent liabilities										(29,000,000)	13,000,000						(195,000,000)	(15,000,000)	(210,000,000)
Redeemable preferred stock																	(18,000,000)	0	(18,000,000)
Net identifiable assets acquired																	994,000,000	(87,000,000)	907,000,000
Goodwill																	2,489,000,000	87,000,000	2,576,000,000
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
Proceeds from sale of China equity method investments			86,000,000
Gain on sale of China equity method investments			$ 178,000,000