Revolving Credit Facilities, Lines of Credit and Short-Term Borrowings (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Arkansas	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Louisiana [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Mississippi [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Texas [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 System Energy [Member] 4.02% Series H notes due February 2017 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Borrowings	$ 1,920,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 50,000,000		$ 0
Amount of Facility	3,451,000,000	78,000,000	100,000,000	200,000,000		100,000,000
Consolidated debt ratio to be maintained or less of its total capitalization as per covenants	65% or less	65% or less	65% or less	65% or less	65% or less	65% or less
Bonds issued	208,200,000	124,100,000					50,000,000
Revolving Credit Facilities Lines Of Credit And Short Term Borrowings (Textual) [Abstract]
Entergy Corporation credit facility expiration date	August 2012
Entergy Corporation credit facility borrowing capacity	$ 3,500,000,000
Facility fee percentage of commitment amount, minimum	0.09%
Facility fee percentage of commitment amount, maximum	0.15%
Facility fee percentage of commitment amount	0.125%
Weighted average interest rate	0.745%
Consolidated debt ratio of capitalization	70% or less
Commitment fee percentage of commitment amount	0.20%