Revolving Credit Facilities, Lines Of Credit And Short-Term Borrowings (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana VIE [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Commercial Paper Program [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum [Member] Entergy Gulf States Louisiana [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of debt				$ 70.0
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity	3,500				150
Issuance of letters of credit, percentage of total borrowing capacity	50.00%				50.00%
Line of credit facility, commitment fee percentage	0.275%							0.275%		0.125%
Debt, weighted average interest rate						2.04%	0.88%
Consolidated debt ratio								65.00%	65.00%
Commercial Paper program limit		1,000	500
Commerical Paper Amount Outstanding	$ 665.0
Line of credit facility commitment fee as a percentage of undrawn commitment amount	0.20%
Consolidated debt ratio of lessees total capitalization	70.00%
Debt instrument, interest rate, stated percentage				3.38%