Debt Debt, Schedule of Maturities of Long-Term Debt (Details) (USD $)				9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended				0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Notes Payable to Banks [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Notes Payable to Banks [Member] London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	May 09, 2013 Notes Payable to Banks [Member] Bank Term Loan [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	Mar. 20, 2013 Notes Payable to Banks [Member] Bank Term Loan [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	Mar. 01, 2013 Bonds [Member] Cleco Power's solid waste disposal facility bonds, 5.25%, due 2037, mandatory tender on March 1, 2013 [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	May 03, 2013 Bonds [Member] Series A GO Zone bonds [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	May 03, 2013 Bonds [Member] Series A GO Zone bonds [Member] London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member] Cleco Power [Member]	May 07, 2013 Bonds [Member] Series B GO Zone bonds [Member] Cleco Power [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments of bank term loan					$ 25,000,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount						60,000,000		50,000,000		50,000,000
Debt Instrument, Repurchased, Accrued Interest							1,600,000
Debt Instrument, Repurchased Face Amount							60,000,000
Debt instrument, basis spread on variable rate				0.75%					0.82%
Debt Instrument, Component of Basis Spread, Percentage of Variable Rate									65.00%
Interest rate (in hundredths)			0.92%				0.11%	0.93%		4.25%
Amounts payable under long-term debt agreements [Abstract]
2014	14,876,000	14,876,000
2015	100,825,000	100,825,000
2016	16,814,000	16,814,000
2017	17,896,000	17,896,000
2018	294,194,000	289,194,000
Thereafter	$ 886,625,000	$ 886,625,000