Earnings Per Share (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Share data	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2010
Potential Dilutive Impact (Numeric)
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of 2010 Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 28.80
Level of average VWAP that causes the Purchase Contract component of 2011 Equity Units to be dilutive (in dollars per share)			$ 30.99
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			105,202,345
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the standard provision of the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			86,552,565
Maximum number of shares of PPL common stock to be issued to settle the make whole provisions of the Purchase Contract component of the Equity Units			18,649,780
Income (Numerator)
Income from continuing operations after income taxes attributable to PPL	$ 197	$ 78	$ 595	$ 320
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	1	0	3	1
Income from continuing operations after income taxes available to PPL common shareowners	196	78	592	319
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) available to PPL	(1)	7	2	15
Net income attributable to PPL	196	85	597	335
Less amounts allocated to participating securities	1	0	3	1
Net income available to PPL common shareowners	195	85	594	334
Shares of Common Stock (Denominator)
Weighted-average shares - Basic EPS (in shares)	561,652,000	381,896,000	522,897,000	379,810,000
Add incremental non-participating securities:
Stock options and performance units (in shares)	367,000	179,000	287,000	224,000
Weighted-average shares - Diluted EPS (in shares)	562,019,000	382,075,000	523,184,000	380,034,000
Basic EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.35	$ 0.20	$ 1.13	$ 0.84
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ 0.02	$ 0.01	$ 0.04
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.35	$ 0.22	$ 1.14	$ 0.88
Diluted EPS - Available to PPL common shareowners:
Income from continuing operations after income taxes (in dollars per share)	$ 0.35	$ 0.20	$ 1.13	$ 0.84
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ 0.02	$ 0.01	$ 0.04
Net Income (in dollars per share)	$ 0.35	$ 0.22	$ 1.14	$ 0.88
Shares Issued (Numeric)
Common stock issued under stock-based compensation plans (in shares)	48,592		392,972
Common stock issued under ESOP (in shares)			301,319
Common stock issued under DRIP (in shares)	598,198		1,179,909
PPL Energy Supply [Member]
Income (Numerator)
Income (loss) from discontinued operations (net of income taxes) available to PPL	$ (1)	$ 60	$ 2	$ 136
Stock Options [Member]
Anti-dilutive securities excluded from diluted EPS [Abstract]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS	5,045,000	5,184,000	5,829,000	4,669,000
Performance Units [Member]
Anti-dilutive securities excluded from diluted EPS [Abstract]
Shares excluded from the computations of diluted EPS	1,000	105,000	4,000	91,000