Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
Oct. 31, 2014	Oct. 31, 2013	Oct. 31, 2012
Statement of Comprehensive Income [Abstract]
Operating Revenues	$ 1,469,988	$ 1,278,229	$ 1,122,780
Cost of Gas	779,780	656,739	547,334
Margin	690,208us-gaap_GrossProfit	621,490us-gaap_GrossProfit	575,446us-gaap_GrossProfit
Operating Expenses:
Operations and maintenance	270,877	253,120	242,599
Depreciation	118,996	112,207	103,192
General taxes	37,294us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpenseTaxes	34,635us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpenseTaxes	34,831us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpenseTaxes
Utility income taxes	83,176pny_OperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	77,334pny_OperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	69,101pny_OperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Total operating expenses	510,343us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpense	477,296us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpense	449,723us-gaap_UtilitiesOperatingExpense
Operating Income	179,865us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	144,194us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	125,723us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Other Income (Expense):
Income from equity method investments	32,753	26,056	23,904
Non-operating income	1,842us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncome	2,839us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncome	1,288us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncome
Non-operating expense	(4,331)us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingExpense	(5,122)us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingExpense	(1,855)us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingExpense
Income taxes	(11,642)pny_NonOperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	(8,612)pny_NonOperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	(9,116)pny_NonOperatingIncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Total other income (expense)	18,622us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense	15,161us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense	14,221us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense
Utility Interest Charges:
Interest on long-term debt	61,562us-gaap_InterestExpenseLongTermDebt	54,158us-gaap_InterestExpenseLongTermDebt	41,412us-gaap_InterestExpenseLongTermDebt
Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction	(16,427)	(30,975)	(25,211)
Other	9,551us-gaap_InterestExpenseOther	1,755us-gaap_InterestExpenseOther	3,896us-gaap_InterestExpenseOther
Total utility interest charges	54,686us-gaap_InterestExpense	24,938us-gaap_InterestExpense	20,097us-gaap_InterestExpense
Net Income	143,801us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	134,417us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	119,847us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), net of tax:
Unrealized gain (loss) from hedging activities of equity method investments, net of tax of $225, ($69) and ($530) for the years ended October 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively	355	(109)	(826)
Reclassification adjustment of realized gain (loss) from hedging activities of equity method investments included in net income, net of tax of ($177), $85 and $621 for the years ended October 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively	(284)	130	973
Net current period benefit activities of equity method investments, net of tax of ($16) for the year ended October 31, 2014	(24)
Total other comprehensive income	47	21	147
Comprehensive Income	$ 143,848us-gaap_ComprehensiveIncomeNetOfTax	$ 134,438us-gaap_ComprehensiveIncomeNetOfTax	$ 119,994us-gaap_ComprehensiveIncomeNetOfTax
Average Shares of Common Stock:
Basic (in shares)	77,883	74,884	71,977
Diluted (in shares)	78,193	75,333	72,278
Earnings Per Share of Common Stock:
Basic (usd per share)	$ 1.85us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 1.80us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 1.67us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic
Diluted (usd per share)	$ 1.84us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 1.78us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 1.66us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted

The component of income tax expense for the period representing amounts of income taxes paid or payable (or refundable) for the period for all income tax obligations as determined by applying the provisions of relevant enacted tax laws to relevant amounts of non-utility taxable income (loss) from continuing operations.

No definition available.