Business Acquisitions - Summary of Pro-forma Information (Details) - Aclara - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net sales	$ 4,531.2	$ 4,180.9
Net income attributable to Hubbell	$ 376.4	$ 209.8
Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Information, Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Basic (USD per share)	$ 6.86	$ 3.82
Diluted (USD per share)	$ 6.83	$ 3.81

Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Information, Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

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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.

+ References

No definition available.

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The pro forma basic net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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The pro forma diluted net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma net Income or Loss for the period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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The pro forma revenue for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of the period.

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-Publisher FASB
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