Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Additional Disclosures (Details) (USD $)					1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Cleco Power [Member]	Feb. 28, 2006 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred construction carrying costs - liability [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred construction carrying costs - liability [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred fuel and purchased power [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Biomass costs [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Treasury Rate Locks [Member] Cleco Power [Member] Deferred Financing costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Treasury Rate Locks [Member] Cleco Power [Member] Deferred Financing costs [Member] Locks
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Original recovery period (in years)								5 years	30 years
Revised recovery period (in years)						4 years
Deferred Construction Carrying Costs [Abstract]
Percentage of jurisdictional portion of construction carrying costs to be collected from customers (in hundredths)					75.00%
Amount of construction carrying costs returned to customers						$ 134,900,000
Current portion of regulatory costs (e.g. to be returned within one year)	13,089,000	13,028,000	13,089,000	13,028,000		28,500,000
Deferred Fuel and Purchased Power Costs [Abstract]
Percentage of total fuel cost was regulated by the LPSC (in hundredths)							90.00%
Change in under-recovered fuel costs							(8,300,000)
Change in deferred fuel and purchased power costs							(6,800,000)
Change in mark-to-market of open gas positions							(2,000,000)
Settlement amount										26,800,000
Number of treasury rate locks entered into										2
Hedge ineffectivness										$ 7,000,000