Litigation, Other Commitments and Contingencies, and Disclosures about Guarantees Litigation (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended									1 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2011 Discrimiation Complaint [Member] claim	Dec. 31, 2010 Discrimiation Complaint [Member]	Feb. 12, 2013 Discrimiation Complaint [Member] claim	Jul. 29, 2010 Discrimiation Complaint [Member] plaintiff	Dec. 31, 2009 Discrimiation Complaint [Member] Minimum [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Retaliation complaint [Member] plaintiff	Dec. 31, 2012 Other Litigation Matters [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member]	Jan. 21, 2011 Cleco Power [Member] City of Opelousas Litigation [Member] claim	Mar. 09, 2010 Cleco Power [Member] City of Opelousas Litigation [Member] Minimum [Member]	Dec. 11, 2009 Current Employee [Member] Discrimiation Complaint [Member] employee	Jul. 31, 2012 Current Employee [Member] Retaliation complaint [Member] employee	Dec. 11, 2009 Former Employee [Member] Discrimiation Complaint [Member] employee	Jul. 31, 2012 Former Employee [Member] Retaliation complaint [Member] employee	Mar. 09, 2010 Customer [Member] Cleco Power [Member] City of Opelousas Litigation [Member] customer	May 11, 2010 Customer [Member] Cleco Power [Member] City of Opelousas Second Class Action Lawsuit [Member] customer	Feb. 12, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member] Discrimiation Complaint [Member] claim
Litigation [Abstract]
Number of plaintiffs											8	6	4	3	3	249
Loss Contingency, Damages Sought, Value					$ 35,000,000
Minimum amount sought by additional plaintiff		2,500,000
Number of claims settled and dismissed	1																1
Total number of plaintiffs				13		9
Number of pending claims			10						2
Amount owed as result of alleged overcharges							4,200,000			30,000,000
Fuel expenses included in audit								3,260,000,000
Cost disallowance in audit, excluding interest								400,000
Customer fuel credit refund, excluding interest								400,000
Environmental expenses included in audit								$ 11,300,000