Fair Value Accounting, Carrying Value and Estimated Fair Value (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	$ 1,394,274	$ 1,601,816
Carrying Value [Member]
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Cash equivalents	8,200	39,700
Restricted cash equivalents	19,423	24,001
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	1,228,529	1,368,354
Estimated Fair Value [Member]
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Cash equivalents	8,200	39,700
Restricted cash equivalents	19,423	24,001
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	1,394,274	1,601,816
Cleco Power [Member]
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	1,356,274	1,544,816
Cleco Power [Member] | Carrying Value [Member]
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Cash equivalents	7,000	34,700
Restricted cash equivalents	19,402	23,980
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	1,190,529	1,311,354
Cleco Power [Member] | Estimated Fair Value [Member]
Financial instruments not marked-to-market [Abstract]
Cash equivalents	7,000	34,700
Restricted cash equivalents	19,402	23,980
Long-term debt, excluding debt issuance costs	$ 1,356,274	$ 1,544,816