Consolidated Balance Sheets (Parenthetical) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Current assets
Customer accounts receivable, allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 948	$ 922
Shareholders’ equity
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 1	$ 1
Common stock, authorized (in shares)	100,000,000us-gaap_CommonStockSharesAuthorized	100,000,000us-gaap_CommonStockSharesAuthorized
Common stock, issued (in shares)	61,058,918us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued	61,051,286us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued
Common stock, outstanding (in shares)	60,480,586us-gaap_CommonStockSharesOutstanding	60,421,467us-gaap_CommonStockSharesOutstanding
Treasury stock, at cost (in shares)	578,332us-gaap_TreasuryStockShares	629,819us-gaap_TreasuryStockShares
Cleco Power [Member]
Current assets
Customer accounts receivable, allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 948	$ 922

A valuation allowance for trade and other receivables due to an Entity within one year (or the normal operating cycle, whichever is longer) that are expected to be uncollectible.

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