Fair Value Accounting (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]

Concentration Risk, Credit Risk, Policy

In May 2012, Cleco and Cleco Power revised their guidelines for short-term investments in order to mitigate credit risk. Qualifying investments include:

• U.S. treasury securities,

• U.S. federal agency and U.S. government-sponsored entity debt,

• Tax-exempt short-term securities of a state, territory, or a possession of the U.S.,

• Certificates of deposit, banker's acceptances and time deposits,

• Corporate notes and bonds, fixed or floating rate, and covered bonds,

• Commercial paper,

• Asset backed securities with a minimum long-term rating of AA by Standard & Poor's and Aaa by Moody's,

• U.S. government mortgage securities with a short average life with a minimum long-term rating of AA by Standard & Poor's and Aaa by Moody's,

• Repurchase agreements with the primary government securities dealers or financial institutions in which Cleco deposits and/or concentrates cash, and

• Money market funds which must have at least $15.0 billion in assets under management; must have been in existence for not less than two years; must have a minimum rating of AAA by Standard & Poor's and Aaa by Moody's and must be compliant with the SEC rule 2a-7 which restricts the quality, maturity, and diversity of investments by money market funds.

The minimum acceptable short-term credit rating must be A-1 by Standard & Poor's and P-1 by Moody's. The maximum maturity of any instrument must be 36 months, and the maximum portfolio duration must be 12 months.

Diversification of holdings must be stressed recognizing the total amount of the portfolio. Investments in securities of any one issuer will be limited to 5% at the time of purchase except for U.S. Treasury and Agency Securities and money market funds. No more than 50% of the portfolio at the time of purchase will be invested in any single Federal Agency/Government Sponsored Enterprise.

Fair Value Transfer, Policy

Cleco has a policy which states that transfers between Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized at the end of a reporting period.