Debt Credit Facility Additional Information (Details) - USD ($)		12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2016	Jun. 23, 2015
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount					$ 725,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity					500,000,000
Standby Letters of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity		$ 250,000,000		$ 300,000,000
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount		46,100,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity		203,900,000
Revolving Credit Facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity		50,000,000
Multicurrency revolving line of credit		0
USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount					$ 225,000,000
Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Multicurrency revolving line of credit		97,167,000	$ 151,837,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity	[1]	$ 356,730,000	$ 301,589,000
Secured Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Collateral		All obligations under the 2015 credit facility are guaranteed by Itron, Inc. and material U.S. domestic subsidiaries and are secured by a pledge of substantially all of the assets of Itron, Inc. and material U.S. domestic subsidiaries, including a pledge of 100% of the capital stock of material U.S. domestic subsidiaries and up to 66% of the voting stock (100% of the non-voting stock) of their first-tier foreign subsidiaries. In addition, the obligations of any foreign subsidiary who is a foreign borrower, as defined by the 2015 credit facility, are guaranteed by the foreign subsidiary and by its direct and indirect foreign parents.
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2015 through June 2017 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		$ 2,800,000
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2017 through June 2018 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		4,200,000
Scheduled Quarterly Repayments September 2018 through March 2020 [Domain] | USD Denominated Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of Secured Debt		$ 5,600,000
Minimum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Unused Capacity, Commitment Fee Percentage		0.18%
Maximum [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Unused Capacity, Commitment Fee Percentage		0.30%
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the LIBOR rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.25%	1.75%
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate at Period End		2.02%	2.18%
EURIBOR [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		EURIBOR rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.25%	1.75%
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate at Period End		1.25%	1.75%
Alternate base rate (1) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the prime rate
Alternate base rate (2) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		the Federal Reserve effective rate
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		0.50%
Alternate base rate (3) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Description of Variable Rate Basis		one month LIBOR
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.00%

[1] Refer to Note 6 for details regarding our secured credit facilities.