Variable Interest Entities (Details) (USD $)			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012 SCE Trust I	Jun. 30, 2012 SCE Trust I	May 31, 2012 SCE Trust I Trust Securities	Jun. 30, 2012 SCE Trust I Trust Securities	Jun. 30, 2012 SCE Trust I Series F	May 31, 2012 SCE Trust I Series F	Jun. 30, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary SCE Power Purchase Contracts agreements contracts MW	Jun. 30, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary SCE Power Purchase Contracts	Jun. 30, 2012 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary SCE Power Purchase Contracts agreements contracts MW	Jun. 30, 2011 Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary SCE Power Purchase Contracts
Details of projects or entities
Number of projects									16		16
Power purchase agreement with tolling agreement (in agreements)									6		6
Power purchase agreement with qualified facilities (in contracts)									10		10
Power generating capacity for majority interest (in megawatts)									3,820		3,820
Payments to unconsolidated VIEs, power purchase contracts									$ 57,000,000	$ 83,000,000	$ 134,000,000	$ 169,000,000
Unconsolidated Trust
Trust securities, percentage rate					5.625%		5.625%
Trust securities, liquidation preference (in dollars per share)					$ 25		$ 2,500	$ 2,500
Trust securities, liquidation preference					475,000,000
Common stock	2,168,000,000	2,168,000,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Preferred and preference stock	1,795,000,000	1,045,000,000				475,000,000	475,000,000	475,000,000
Dividend income and accrued dividend payments			$ 3,000,000	$ 3,000,000