Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Risk Management (Details) (Energy Related Derivative [Member], Cleco Power [Member])	Sep. 30, 2013 MMBTU	Dec. 31, 2012 MMBTU
Energy Related Derivative [Member] \| Cleco Power [Member]
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosures [Line Items]
Number of open derivative positions	0	0

The number of derivative instruments of a particular group held by the entity.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 815

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1B

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7476318&loc=SL5580258-113959

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 815

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1A

-Subparagraph (d)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7476318&loc=SL5579245-113959

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeNumberOfInstrumentsHeld
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant