Derecognized fair value adjustment and debt issuance costs related to debt redemption

No definition available.

Name:	cnl_Derecognizedfairvalueadjustmentanddebtissuancecostsrelatedtodebtredemption
Namespace Prefix:	cnl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amortization period for the recovery of regulatory asset, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RegulatoryAssetAmortizationPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RegulatoryAssetLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount for the individual regulatory asset as itemized in a table of regulatory assets as of the end of the period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 980
-SubTopic 340
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6499975&loc=d3e44250-110382

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=us-gaap_SubsidiariesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RegulatoryAssetAxis=cnl_LatereconnectfeesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Regulatory Assets and Liabilities, Additional Disclosures (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended
	Mar. 01, 2017	Jun. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Regulatory Assets [Line Items]
Derecognized fair value adjustment and debt issuance costs related to debt redemption	$ 700
Cleco Power
Regulatory Assets [Line Items]
Regulatory Assets		$ 278,541	$ 285,737
Late/reconnect fees [Member] \| Cleco Power
Regulatory Assets [Line Items]
Regulatory Assets		$ 3,154	$ 0
Regulatory Asset, Amortization Period		3 years