Acquisitions - Purchase Considerations (Details) - Gatherco [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended
Apr. 01, 2015	Mar. 31, 2016
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Chesapeake Utilities common stock	$ 30,200	$ 30,164
Cash	27,500	27,494
Acquired debt	1,696	1,696
Purchase price		57,658
Less: cash acquired	$ (6,800)	(6,806)
Gross [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price		59,354
Net [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price		$ 52,548

Value of equity interests (such as common shares, preferred shares, or partnership interest) issued or issuable to acquire the entity.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)(4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Amount of consideration transferred, consisting of acquisition-date fair value of assets transferred by the acquirer, liabilities incurred by the acquirer, and equity interest issued by the acquirer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
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Amount of currency on hand as well as demand deposits with banks or financial institutions, acquired at the acquisition date. Includes other kinds of accounts that have the general characteristics of demand deposits. Also includes short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
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Amount of long-term debt due within one year or within the normal operating cycle, if longer, assumed at the acquisition date.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of business during the period. The cash portion only of the acquisition price.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Investing Activities
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6516133

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