Equity, Other Comprehensive Income, and Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income - Rollforward of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Parenthetical) (Detail) - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act [Member]	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Effective income tax rate	24.00%	38.00%
Southwest Gas Corporation [Member]
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Effective income tax rate	24.00%	38.00%

Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)(2))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 12
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32687-109319

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 13
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32698-109319

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration