Fair Value (Fair Value of Financial Instruments) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Carrying Amount
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	$ 33	$ 32
Dividends payable	138	131
Short-term borrowings	410	499
Notes payable (a)	15	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	9,481	9,210
Carrying Amount \| DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	5	5
Short-term borrowings	0	272
Notes payable (a)	4	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	5,877	5,588
Carrying Amount \| DTE Electric \| Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	64	0
Short-term borrowings	112	75
Fair Value \| Level 1
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Dividends payable	138	131
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable (a)	0	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	802	496
Fair Value \| Level 1 \| DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable (a)	0	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	0	0
Fair Value \| Level 1 \| DTE Electric \| Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Fair Value \| Level 2
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Dividends payable	0	0
Short-term borrowings	410	499
Notes payable (a)	0	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	8,588	8,136
Fair Value \| Level 2 \| DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	272
Notes payable (a)	0	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	6,082	5,432
Fair Value \| Level 2 \| DTE Electric \| Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Fair Value \| Level 3
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	33	32
Dividends payable	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable (a)	15	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	1,322	1,203
Fair Value \| Level 3 \| DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	5	5
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable (a)	4	0
Long-term debt, excluding capital leases	602	545
Fair Value \| Level 3 \| DTE Electric \| Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	64	0
Short-term borrowings	$ 112	$ 75

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The fair value amount of long-term debt whether such amount is presented as a separate caption or as a parenthetical disclosure. Additionally, this element may be used in connection with the fair value disclosures required in the footnote disclosures to the financial statements. The element may be used in both the balance sheet and disclosure in the same submission.

+ References

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- Definition

Fair value portion of notes payable.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19,20,22)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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Fair value portion of an agreement for an unconditional promise by the maker to pay the holder a definite sum of money at a future date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.3(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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- Definition

This element represents the portion of the balance sheet assertion valued at fair value by the entity whether such amount is presented as a separate caption or as a parenthetical disclosure. Additionally, this element may be used in connection with the fair value disclosures required in the footnote disclosures to the financial statements. The element may be used in both the balance sheet and disclosure in the same submission. This item represents the amount of short-term debt existing as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

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