RATE AND OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS (Details 3) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	24 Months Ended															3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Jul. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Accumulated deferred income taxes	Dec. 31, 2011 Accumulated deferred income taxes	Sep. 30, 2012 Asset Retirement Obligation Costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Asset Retirement Obligation Costs [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Storm damage reserve	Dec. 31, 2011 Storm damage reserve	Sep. 30, 2012 Monetization of bankruptcy claim	Dec. 31, 2011 Monetization of bankruptcy claim	Sep. 30, 2012 Deferred gains on interest rate derivatives	Dec. 31, 2011 Deferred gains on interest rate derivatives	Sep. 30, 2012 Other.	Dec. 31, 2011 Other.	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G	Sep. 30, 2012 SCE&G	Sep. 30, 2011 SCE&G	Dec. 31, 2011 SCE&G
Regulatory Liabilities:
Amount Recovered Through Electric Rates to Offset Turbine Expenses		$ 18,400,000
Amount Recovered Through Electric Rates to Offset Deferred Pollution, Control Costs																	9,100,000	9,100,000
Regulatory liabilities	863,000,000		778,000,000	778,000,000	21,000,000	23,000,000	688,000,000	662,000,000	27,000,000	32,000,000	32,000,000	34,000,000	85,000,000	26,000,000	2,000,000	1,000,000	649,000,000	649,000,000		575,000,000
Amount allowed to be recovered through electric rates to offset incremental storm damage costs	0																	100,000,000
Annual amount of storm damage costs which can not be offset by amounts recovered through electric rates	2.5																	2,500,000
Storm Damage Reserve Cost Applied																		$ 4,600,000	$ 3,600,000
Accrual period of nuclear refueling charges (in months)	18																18