Business Acquisitions (Details) $ in Millions, CAD in Billions	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) substation mi	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 01, 2014 CAD
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition, net of cash acquired		$ (66)	$ (164)	$ (2,956)
Goodwill	$ 9,343	9,010	9,076	9,343
Goodwill, acquired during period		50	77
Par value		36,295
Net income attributable to BHE shareholders		2,542	$ 2,370	2,095
AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net assets acquired | CAD					CAD 3.1
Transmission Line | mi			8,200
Substation | substation			300
Other acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition, net of cash acquired		(66)	$ (164)	$ (243)
Business combination, recognized identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, liabilities		54	84
CE Generation Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired	50.00%			50.00%
Property, plant, and equipment assumed	$ 641			$ 641
Subsidiary debt, less current portion assumed	231			231
Deferred income taxes assumed	170			170
Goodwill, acquired during period		50	33	80
AltaLink [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net income attributable to BHE shareholders			13
NV Energy, Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill	2,369	2,369	2,369	$ 2,369
Goodwill, acquired during period		$ 0	0
BHE [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs			$ 3
Common Stock [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, percentage of voting interests acquired					100.00%
Junior Subordinated Debt [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross	1,500
Commercial Paper [Member] | AltaLink, LP Transaction [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross	$ 1,000