Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Additional Disclosures (Details) (Cleco Power [Member], USD $)	1 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended			6 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 Evangeline [Member] Evangeline Power Purchase Agreement [Member] MW	Mar. 31, 2014 Deferred surcredits, net [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Deferred surcredits, net [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Deferred surcredits, net [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Advanced Metering Infrastructure Costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Advanced Metering Infrastructure Costs [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Production O&M expenses [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Production O&M expenses [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 MISO integration costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 MISO integration costs [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Coughlin transaction costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Coughlin transaction costs [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Corporate franchise tax [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Corporate franchise tax [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Acadia FRP true-up [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Acadia FRP true-up [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Other [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Other [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Fuel and purchased power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Fuel and purchased power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Fuel and purchased power [Member] FTRs [Member]	Jun. 18, 2014 Maximum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2009 Maximum [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Advanced Metering Infrastructure Costs [Member]	Feb. 28, 2011 Maximum [Member] Advanced Metering Infrastructure Costs [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Production O&M expenses [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Coughlin transaction costs [Member]	Apr. 15, 2014 State and Local Jurisdiction [Member] Corporate franchise tax [Member]
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Withdrawal from Restricted Storm Reserve		$ 4,000,000
Long-term Power Purchase Agreement, Term of Contract	3 years
Capacity and energy provided by a power purchase agreement (in MW)	730
Regulatory Assets			15,581,000	16,738,000	6,136,000	4,682,000	8,459,000	8,459,000	3,743,000	0	1,076,000	0	3,032,000	0	754,000	0	714,000	0	35,447,000	35,447,000					20,000,000	25,600,000		3,700,000
Regulatory Noncurrent Asset, Amortization Period			P4Y				P3Y		P4Y								P3Y							P11Y			P35Y
Production O&M expenses (deferral threshold)																						45,000,000	25,600,000
Regulatory Current Liability, Amortization Period													P0Y12M		P0Y12M
Percentage of total fuel cost regulated by LPSC (in hundredths)																			74.00%
Increase (decrease) in under/over recovered costs																				39,300,000
Increase in fuel and purchased power costs																				27,300,000
Increase in costs due to settlement of open FTR positions and a mark-to-market loss on remaining open FTR positions																					$ 12,000,000