Electric Customer Credits (Details) (USD $)					53 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Cleco Power [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member] Louisiana Public Service Commission [Member] 2010 FRP [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member] Louisiana Public Service Commission [Member] FRP extension [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member] Louisiana Public Service Commission [Member] FRP extension [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member] Louisiana Public Service Commission [Member] 2013 FRP Monitoring Report [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleco Power [Member] Louisiana Public Service Commission [Member] 2014 FRP Monitoring Report [Member]
Public Utilities, General Disclosures [Line Items]
Target return on equity allowed by FRP (in hundredths)					10.70%		10.00%
Percentage of retail earnings within range to be returned to customers (in hundredths)					60.00%		60.00%
Return on equity for customer credit, low range (in hundredths)					11.30%		10.90%
Return on equity for customer credit, high range (in hundredths)					12.30%		11.75%
Customer Refundable Fees, Refund Payments						$ 22,300,000		$ 2,200,000
Customer refundable fees, expected refund									1,700,000
Accrual for estimated Electric customer credits	$ 2,289,000	$ 3,533,000	$ 2,289,000	$ 3,533,000