Fair Value (Fair Value of Financial Instruments) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Carrying amount
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	$ 31	$ 36
Dividends payable	148	148
Short-term borrowings	59	499
Notes payable — other	18	17
Long-term debt	11,762	11,270
Carrying amount | DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	5
Short-term borrowings	59	62
Notes payable — other	6	6
Long-term debt	5,879	5,878
Carrying amount | DTE Electric | Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Short-term borrowings	205	117
Fair value | Level 1
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	0
Dividends payable	148	148
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable — other	0	0
Long-term debt	1,505	1,465
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 — other	0	0
Long-term debt	0	0
Fair value | Level 1 | DTE Electric | Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
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	59	499
Notes payable — other	0	0
Long-term debt	9,874	9,384
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	59	62
Notes payable — other	0	0
Long-term debt	6,016	6,026
Fair value | Level 2 | DTE Electric | Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Fair value | Level 3
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	31	36
Dividends payable	0	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable — other	18	17
Long-term debt	1,044	1,056
Fair value | Level 3 | DTE Electric
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Notes receivable, excluding capital leases	0	5
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Notes payable — other	6	6
Long-term debt	262	264
Fair value | Level 3 | DTE Electric | Affiliates
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Short-term borrowings	$ 205	$ 117