Pension Plan and Employee Benefits, Pension Plan and Other Benefits Plan (Details) - USD ($)		3 Months Ended				6 Months Ended
	Apr. 12, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Apr. 12, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015
Other Benefits [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Assets Held-in-trust, Noncurrent		$ 0	$ 0			$ 0
Other Benefits [Member] | Cleco Power [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Net periodic benefit cost			800,000		$ 900,000	1,700,000	$ 1,800,000
Current portion of other benefits liability		3,140,000	3,140,000			3,140,000		$ 3,140,000
Noncurrent portion of other benefits liability		33,589,000	33,589,000			33,589,000		34,300,000
Successor [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Service cost		1,893,000
Interest cost		4,669,000
Expected return on plan assets		(5,193,000)
Prior period service (credit) cost		(15,000)
Net loss		1,845,000
Net periodic benefit cost		3,199,000
Successor [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member] | Other Subsidiaries [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Net periodic benefit cost		400,000
Successor [Member] | Other Benefits [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Service cost		329,000
Interest cost		364,000
Expected return on plan assets		0
Prior period service (credit) cost		0
Net loss		0
Net periodic benefit cost		693,000
Current portion of other benefits liability		3,613,000	3,613,000			3,613,000
Noncurrent portion of other benefits liability		$ 38,651,000	$ 38,651,000			$ 38,651,000
Predecessor [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Service cost	$ 301,000			$ 2,563,000	2,683,000		5,209,000
Interest cost	734,000			6,242,000	5,271,000		10,398,000
Expected return on plan assets	(801,000)			(6,812,000)	(5,856,000)		(11,690,000)
Prior period service (credit) cost	(2,000)			(20,000)	(18,000)		(36,000)
Net loss	329,000			2,798,000	3,568,000		6,914,000
Net periodic benefit cost	561,000			4,771,000	5,648,000		10,795,000
Predecessor [Member] | Pension Benefits [Member] | Other Subsidiaries [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Net periodic benefit cost	100,000			500,000	600,000		1,000,000
Predecessor [Member] | Other Benefits [Member]
Components of periodic benefit costs [Abstract]
Service cost	51,000			431,000	392,000		784,000
Interest cost	56,000			476,000	372,000		744,000
Expected return on plan assets	0			0	0		0
Prior period service (credit) cost	4,000			34,000	34,000		68,000
Net loss	21,000			181,000	238,000		476,000
Net periodic benefit cost	$ 132,000			$ 1,122,000	$ 1,036,000		$ 2,072,000
Current portion of other benefits liability								3,613,000
Noncurrent portion of other benefits liability								$ 39,457,000