Preferred Equity (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2007	Dec. 31, 2011 Preferred Class A [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Arkansas Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Arkansas Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana	Dec. 15, 2015 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana	Dec. 31, 2010 Entergy Gulf States Louisiana	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Louisiana [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Mississippi [Member] Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Mississippi [Member] Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy New Orleans [Member] Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy New Orleans [Member] Minimum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Entergy Asset Management [Member]
Preferred Equity [Line Items]
Preferred stock or preferred membership interests of subsidiaries			6.45%	4.32%	8.25%			6.95%	6.25%	4.36%	5.56%	4.36%	8.95%
Preferred Units, Outstanding					100,000		100,000
Redeemable redemption price per share						$ 100
Outstanding class A preferred shares		278,905
Shares held by an affiliate		4,759
Preferred Equity (Textual) [Abstract]
Shares purchased by subsidiaries	160,000