GENERAL (Details)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016 Subsidiary Facility Squarefeet Customer gal
Number of wholly owned subsidiaries | Subsidiary	8
Number of subsidiaries not regulated | Subsidiary	3
Artesian Development purchased area of office space (in square feet) | Squarefeet	10,000
Artesian Development purchased area of warehouse space (in square feet) | Squarefeet	10,000
Artesian Wastewater [Member]
Number of wastewater treatment facilities owned and operated | Facility	4
Capacity of wastewater treatment facilities, minimum (in gallons per day) | gal	730,000
Capacity of waste water treatment facilities, maximum (in gallons per day) | gal	1,600,000
Artesian Utility [Member]
Initial contract period of operating wastewater treatment facilities in Middletown (in years)	20 years
Number of wastewater treatment station facility operations in Middletown | Facility	2
Number of wastewater treatment facilities in Middletown providing reclaimed wastewater | Facility	1
Number of Water Service Line Protection Plan customers | Customer	19,250
Number of Sewer Service Line Protection Plan customers | Customer	14,710
Percentage of Water Service Line Protection Plan customers signed up (in hundredths)	25.00%
Percentage Of Sewer Service Protection Plan customer signed up (in hundredths)	19.10%
Number of non-customers signed up with either Water Service Line Protection Plan or Service Line Protection Plan or Internal Service Line Protection Plan | Customer	1,260
Number of Internal Service Line Protection Plan Customers | Customer	1,940
Artesian Utility [Member] | Wastewater treatment facility first of two [Member]
Capacity of waste water treatment facilities, maximum (in gallons per day) | gal	2,500,000
Artesian Utility [Member] | Wastewater treatment facility second of two [Member]
Capacity of waste water treatment facilities, maximum (in gallons per day) | gal	250,000