Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Additional Disclosures (Details) (USD $)													3 Months Ended							36 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred tree trimming costs [Member]	Jan. 29, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred tree trimming costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred tree trimming costs [Member]	Jan. 31, 2008 Cleco Power [Member] Deferred tree trimming costs [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] AMI Deferred Revenue Requirement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] AMI Deferred Revenue Requirement [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Construction carrying costs - asset [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Construction carrying costs - asset [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Construction carrying costs - liability [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Fuel and purchased power [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Fuel and purchased power [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Biomass costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Biomass costs [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member] Financing costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Cleco Power [Member] Financing costs [Member]	Apr. 30, 2015 Evangeline [Member] Evangeline Power Purchase Agreement [Member] Cleco Power [Member] MW	Mar. 31, 2012 Evangeline [Member] Evangeline Power Purchase Agreement [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Cleco Power [Member] AMI Deferred Revenue Requirement [Member]	Feb. 28, 2011 Maximum [Member] Cleco Power [Member] AMI Deferred Revenue Requirement [Member]
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory asset - cap on actual expenditures								$ 12,000,000
Regulatory asset - cap on grossed up rate of return (in hundredths)								12.40%
Maximum amount of costs requested to expend and defer						8,000,000
Amount of construction carrying costs returned to customers													163,100,000
Regulatory liabilities	3,296,000	8,255,000	3,296,000	8,255,000									3,300,000
Long-term power purchase agreement, term (in years)																					three
Capacity and energy provided by a power purchase agreement (in MW)																				730
Regulatory assets					4,978,000		5,656,000		2,141,000	1,483,000	3,131,000	4,697,000		3,981,000	7,833,000	137,000	145,000	7,186,000	7,282,000				20,000,000
Amortization period (in years)													4									15
Percentage of total fuel cost regulated by LPSC (in hundredths)														88.00%
Increase (decrease) in other regulatory assets														$ (3,900,000)