Pension Plan and Employee Benefits, SERP (Details) (SERP Benefits [Member], USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
General information	Benefits under the plan reflect an employee’s years of service, age at retirement, and the sum of the highest base salary paid out of the last five calendar years plus the average of the three highest bonuses paid during the 60 months prior to retirement, reduced by benefits received from any other defined benefit pension plan, SERP Plan, or Cleco contributions under the enhanced 401(k) Plan to the extent such contributions exceed the limits of the 401(k) Plan.
Components of periodic benefit costs
Service cost	$ 506,000	$ 1,001,000
Interest cost	678,000	574,000
Prior period service cost	14,000	14,000
Net loss	536,000	309,000
Net periodic benefit cost	1,734,000	1,898,000
Curent portion of SERP liability	2,700,000		2,500,000
Cleco Power [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs
Net periodic benefit cost	400,000	300,000
Curent portion of SERP liability	$ 800,000		$ 800,000