Business Acquisitions (Details) $ / shares in Units, natural_gas_customers in Millions, electricity_customers in Millions, CAD in Millions, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) substation natural_gas_customers mi electricity_customers	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) substation natural_gas_customers mi electricity_customers	Dec. 31, 2014 CAD	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 01, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 01, 2014 CAD	Dec. 19, 2013 $ / shares	Nov. 08, 2013 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Measurement Period				12	12
Acquisition, net of cash acquired			$ (164)	$ (2,956)		$ (5,536)
Goodwill	$ 9,343	$ 7,527	9,076	9,343		7,527
Goodwill, acquired during period			77	$ 1,935
Number of years committed to invest in Alberta's infrastructure				3	3
Par value			38,133
Net income attributable to BHE shareholders			2,370	$ 2,095		1,636
AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash and equivalents assumed							$ 15
Current assets, including cash and cash equivalents							174
Property, plant, and equipment assumed							5,610
Goodwill							1,744
Other long-term assets assumed							141
Total assets assumed							7,669
Current liabilities, including current portion of long-term debt assumed							866
Current portion of long-term debt assumed							79
Subsidiary debt, less current portion assumed							3,772
Deferred income taxes assumed							85
Other long-term liabilities assumed							218
Other long-term liabilities assumed							4,941
Net assets acquired							$ 2,728	CAD 3,100
Transmission Line | mi	8,100			8,100
Substation | substation	300			300
Percentage of earnings committed to reinvest				100.00%	100.00%
Number of years committed to reinvest earnings				5	5
Investment commitment in Alberta's infrastructure | CAD					CAD 2,700
Minimum amount pursue joint development opportunities with Canadian partners in Canada and the United States | CAD					27
Minimum investment of new funds to support Alberta-based academic programs focused on energy-related topics cultural organizations and community-based programs | CAD					3
Amount committed to invest in community and charitable contributions across Alberta | CAD					CAD 3
The number of years committed to invest in community and charitable contributions across Alberta				3	3
NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Credit to retail customers, Net of Tax						13
Credit to retail customers						20
Costs and expenses of an acquired entity						38
Other acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition, net of cash acquired			(164)	$ (243)
Business combination, recognized identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, liabilities			84
CE Generation Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired	50.00%			50.00%
Property, plant, and equipment assumed	$ 641			$ 641
Subsidiary debt, less current portion assumed	231			231
Deferred income taxes assumed	$ 170			170
Goodwill, acquired during period			33	80
Residential real estate brokerage business [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition, net of cash acquired						(240)
Goodwill, acquired during period						188
Business combination, recognized identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, liabilities		271				271
AltaLink [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net income attributable to BHE shareholders				$ 13
NV Energy [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of electricity customers | electricity_customers	1.2			1.2
Number of natural gas customers | natural_gas_customers	0.2			0.2
Goodwill	$ 2,369	2,280	2,369	$ 2,369		2,280
Goodwill, acquired during period			$ 0	89
BHE [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs				$ 3
BHE [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs						5
Common Stock [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired							100.00%	100.00%
Common Stock [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Share Price | $ / shares									$ 23.75
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired									100.00%
Common Stock [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross		1,000
Junior Subordinated Debt [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross	1,500
Junior Subordinated Debt [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross		2,600
Cash [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross		$ 2,000
Commercial Paper [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross	$ 1,000
BHE [Member] | Senior Notes [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Par value										$ 2,000
Change in Control Costs [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Costs and expenses of an acquired entity						22
Donations [Member] | NV Energy Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Costs and expenses of an acquired entity						$ 16