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Earnings Per Share and Common Stock (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Mar. 04, 2014	Feb. 26, 2014	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013
Earnings Per Share and Common Stock [Abstract]
Antidilutive Shares Excluded from Diluted EPS Computation			0	0	0	0
Earnings Per Share - Basic [Abstract]
Net Income Attributable to ALLETE			$ 16.8	$ 14.0	$ 50.3	$ 46.5
Average Common Shares			42.1	39.4	41.7	39.2
Earnings Per Share			$ 0.40	$ 0.36	$ 1.21	$ 1.19
Earnings Per Share - Diluted [Abstract]
Net Income to Attributable ALLETE			16.8	14.0	50.3	46.5
Average Common Shares			42.3	39.6	41.9	39.3
Earnings Per Share			$ 0.40	$ 0.35	$ 1.20	$ 1.18
Dilutive Securities (in shares)			0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Forward Contract Indexed to Issuer's Equity, Indexed Shares		2.8
Forward Contract Indexed to Issuer's Equity, Forward Rate Per Share		$ 48.01
Common Stock Issued - Option Agreement (in shares)	0.4
Proceeds from Issuance of Common Stock - Option Agreement	20.2
Forward Contract Indexed to Issuer's Equity, Dilutive Securities (in shares)					0
Forward Contract Indexed to Issuer's Equity, Initial Fair Value		0
Common Stock Issued - Pension Plan (in shares)					0.4
Proceeds from Issuance of Common Stock - Pension Plan					$ 19.5	$ 0

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