Litigation, Other Commitments and Contingencies, and Disclosures about Guarantees, Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Guarantees (Details) $ in Millions	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)
Performance Guarantee [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 42.4
Cleco Corp, Cleco Power, and/or Evangeline [Member] \| Indemnification Agreement [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	40.0
Cleco Corp, Cleco Power, and/or Evangeline [Member] \| Indemnification Agreement INCLUDING fundamental organizational structure [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	400.0
Cleco Power [Member] \| Financial Guarantee [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	106.5
Guarantor Obligations, Current Carrying Value	3.8
Cleco Power [Member] \| Cleco Corp, Cleco Power, and/or Evangeline [Member] \| Indemnification Agreement [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	40.0
Cleco Power [Member] \| Cleco Corp, Cleco Power, and/or Evangeline [Member] \| Indemnification Agreement INCLUDING fundamental organizational structure [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Maximum Exposure, Undiscounted	$ 400.0

The current carrying amount of the liability for the freestanding or embedded guarantor's obligations under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6851643&loc=d3e12069-110248

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+ References

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Maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6851643&loc=d3e12069-110248

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