Pension Plan and Employee Benefits, SERP (Details) - SERP Benefits [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014
Components of periodic benefit costs
Service cost	$ 728	$ 671	$ 1,353	$ 1,139
Interest cost	744	789	1,528	1,514
Prior period service cost	13	15	26	27
Net loss	782	552	1,487	937
Net periodic benefit cost	2,267	2,027	4,394	3,617
Current portion of SERP liability	3,000		3,000		$ 3,000
Noncurrent portion of SERP liability	72,400		72,400		70,900
Cleco Power [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs
Net periodic benefit cost	600	$ 500	1,100	$ 900
Current portion of SERP liability	900		900		800
Noncurrent portion of SERP liability	$ 19,100		$ 19,100		$ 19,000