Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Summary of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities (Details) (Cleco Power [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	$ 316,933us-gaap_RegulatoryAssets	$ 324,079us-gaap_RegulatoryAssets
Total regulatory assets, net	565,099us-gaap_NetRegulatoryAssets	579,379us-gaap_NetRegulatoryAssets
PPA true-up
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory liabilities	(624)	(624)
Regulatory assets – deferred taxes, net
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	235,889	234,370
Mining costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	10,833	11,470
Interest costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	5,492	5,582
AROs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	1,145	1,029
Postretirement costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	157,576	160,903
Tree trimming costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	8,354	8,066
Training costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	6,980	7,019
Surcredits, net
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	12,588	13,587
Amended lignite mining agreement contingency
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	3,781	3,781
AMI deferred revenue requirement
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	5,727	5,863
Production operations and maintenance expenses
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	14,056	14,761
AFUDC equity gross-up
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	72,611	72,859
Acquisition/ transaction costs [Member]
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	2,627	2,653
Acquisition/ transaction costs [Member] \| Coughlin transaction costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	1,053	1,060
Financing costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	9,310	9,402
Biomass costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	74	82
MISO integration costs
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	3,041	3,275
Corporate franchise tax
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	317	1,223
Acadia FRP true-up
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	754	754
Energy efficiency
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	80	114
Other
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	534	596
Fuel and purchased power
Schedule of Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Net [Line Items]
Regulatory assets	$ 12,901	$ 21,554

The net amount of all regulatory assets less all regulatory liabilities as of the end of the period.

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 980

-SubTopic 340

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6499975&loc=d3e44250-110382

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+ References

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+ References

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 980

-SubTopic 405

-Section 25

-Paragraph 1

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6500807&loc=d3e48068-110394

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