Asset Retirement Obligations (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Asset Retirement Obligations, Noncurrent		$ 6,101,283	$ 4,790,187
Entergy Wholesale Commodities [Member] \| Vermont Yankee [Member]
NRC allowed future spent fuel management costs to be paid from Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund	$ 225,000

Noncurrent portion of the carrying amount of a liability for an asset retirement obligation. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 410
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6392692&loc=d3e7535-110849

Name:	us-gaap_AssetRetirementObligationsNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant