Pension Plan and Employee Benefits, Additional Disclosures (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Pension Benefits [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Actual return on plan assets (in hundredths)	15.20%	8.70%
Expected return on plan assets (in hundredths)	6.61%	7.80%	7.80%
Projected benefit payments [Abstract]
2013	$ 14,905,000
2014	15,742,000
2015	16,570,000
2016	17,562,000
2017	18,695,000
Next five years	112,906,000
Medicare Part D subsidy receipts [Abstract]
Defined Benefit Plan, Fair Value of Plan Assets	344,041,000	312,395,000	242,513,000
Fair value of plan assets before adjustments	341,892,000	310,197,000
Other Benefits [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Estimated impact of future Medicare subsidies on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation	0	400,000
Impact of future Medicare subsidies on the components of other benefit costs [Abstract]
(Increase) reduction in interest cost	(8,000)	(24,000)
Reduction in net loss amortization	199,000	195,000
Reduction in prior period service cost amortization	0	50,000
Reduction in net other benefit cost	191,000	221,000
Assumed health care cost trend rates (in hundredths)	8.00%
Ultimate health care trend rate (in hundredths)	5.00%
Year that rate reaches ultimate trend rate	2031
Effect of one-percentage point change in assumed health care cost trend rates [Abstract]
Effect of one-percentage point increase on total of service and interest cost components	14,000
Effect of one-percentage point decrease on total of service and interest cost components	(34,000)
Effect of one-percentage point increase on postretirement benefit obligation	318,000
Effect of one-percentage point decrease on postretirement benefit obligation	(670,000)
Projected benefit payments [Abstract]
2013	3,060,000
2014	3,279,000
2015	3,496,000
2016	3,680,000
2017	3,821,000
Next five years	19,863,000
Medicare Part D subsidy receipts [Abstract]
2013	194,000
2014	0
2015	0
2016	0
2017	0
Next five years	0
SERP Benefits [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Current portion of SERP liability	2,500,000	2,200,000
Projected benefit payments [Abstract]
2013	2,503,000
2014	2,531,000
2015	2,774,000
2016	2,997,000
2017	3,078,000
Next five years	18,279,000
SERP Benefits [Member] | Cleco Power [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Allocated amount of SERP liability	18,400,000	15,000,000
Current portion of SERP liability	800,000	800,000
Next Plan Year [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Pension contributions designated for current plan year	34,000,000
Hedge Funds [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member]
Medicare Part D subsidy receipts [Abstract]
Fair value of plan assets before adjustments	$ 2,587,000	$ 2,892,000