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Fair Value of Financial Instruments - Counterparty Credit Risk (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018 | Dec. 31, 2017 | Dec. 31, 2016
Derivative Fair Value Meaurements and Concentration of Credit Risk |  |  |
Counterparty credit exposure, excluding credit risk exposure under certain long term agreements | $ 301 |  |
Counterparty credit exposure, collateral held (cash and letters of credit) against positions | 123 |  |
Counterparty credit exposure, net | $ 180 |  |
Company's exposure before collateral expected to roll off by the end of 2015 (as a percent) | 66.00% |  |
Net exposure (as a percent) | 100.00% |  |
Counterparty credit risk exposure to certain counterparties, threshold (as a percent) | 10.00% |  |
Estimated counterparty credit risk exposure under certain long term agreements, including California tolling agreements, South Central load obligations and solar power purchase agreements for the next 5 years | $ 434 |  |
Period of estimated counterparty credit risk exposure under certain long term agreements, including California tolling agreements, South Central load obligations and solar power purchase agreements (in years) | 5 years |  |
Provision for bad debts | $ 85 | $ 68 | $ 45
Non-Investment grade/Non-Rated |  |  |
Derivative Fair Value Meaurements and Concentration of Credit Risk |  |  |
Net exposure (as a percent) | 51.00% |  |
Investment grade |  |  |
Derivative Fair Value Meaurements and Concentration of Credit Risk |  |  |
Net exposure (as a percent) | 49.00% |  |
Financial Institutions |  |  |
Derivative Fair Value Meaurements and Concentration of Credit Risk |  |  |
Net exposure (as a percent) | 89.00% |  |
Financial institutions |  |  |
Derivative Fair Value Meaurements and Concentration of Credit Risk |  |  |
Net exposure (as a percent) | 11.00% |  |

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- Definition The amount of credit exposure to a significant portion of all counterparties. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_AmountOfCreditExposureToSignificantPortionOfAllCounterparties
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type: | credit
Period Type: | instant

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- Definition Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of cash collateral and letters of credit received by the entity on deposit from third parties in support of energy risk management. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_CollateralHeldCashAndLettersOfCredit
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type: | debit
Period Type: | instant

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- Definition The percentage of net counterparty credit exposure that rolls-off by the end of 2012. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_CounterpartyCreditRiskExposurePercentageOfCreditRiskRollOff
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | num:percentItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

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- Definition Represents the threshold percentage for disclosure of counterparty credit exposure. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_CounterpartyCreditRiskExposurePercentageThreshold
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | num:percentItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

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- Definition Represents the percentage of net counterparty credit exposure of the entity. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_CreditDerivativeMaximumNetExposurePercentage
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | num:percentItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | instant

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- Definition This element represents the estimated amount of the counterparty credit risk exposure. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_EstimatedCounterpartyCreditRiskExposureToCertainCounterparties
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type: | credit
Period Type: | duration

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- Definition Estimated Counterparty Credit Risk Exposure to Certain Counterparties, Period + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_EstimatedCounterpartyCreditRiskExposureToCertainCounterpartiesPeriod
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

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- Definition Represents the net exposure of the entity determined as total credit exposure to all counterparties less collateral (cash and letters of credit) held against those positions as of the reporting date. + References No definition available. + Details
Name: | nrg_NetCreditExposure
Namespace Prefix: | nrg_
Data Type: | xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type: | credit
Period Type: | instant

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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. + Details
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- Definition Amount of expense related to write-down of receivables to the amount expected to be collected. Includes, but is not limited to, accounts receivable and notes receivable. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 220 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.5) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115205541&loc=SL114868664-224227 Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 606 -SubTopic 10 -Section 45 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82913815&loc=SL49130534-203044 + Details
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- Details
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- Details
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- Details
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- Details
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