Pension Plan and Employee Benefits, SERP (Details) - SERP Benefits [Member] - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Service cost	$ 583	$ 630
Interest cost	731	758
Prior period service cost	13	13
Net loss	655	726
Net periodic benefit cost	1,982	2,127
Current portion of SERP liability	3,238		$ 3,238
Noncurrent portion of SERP liability	69,632		69,049
Cleco Power [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Net periodic benefit cost	400	$ 500
Current portion of SERP liability	1,000		1,000
Noncurrent portion of SERP liability	$ 21,371		$ 21,321