Schedule I Financial Statements of Cleco Corporation, Cash Distributions and Equity Contributions (Details)		3 Months Ended										9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Apr. 12, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Apr. 12, 2016 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Predecessor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Distributions to member/parent	$ 0										$ 0
Successor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Distributions to member/parent		$ 110,000	$ 28,300,000	$ 26,700,000	$ 28,955,000	$ 32,765,000	$ 28,000,000		$ 28,000,000			$ 88,765,000		$ 84,065,000
Cleco Power [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent								$ 50,000,000							$ 50,000,000
Distributions to member/parent		$ 60,000,000	$ 15,000,000	$ 25,000,000	$ 35,000,000	$ 25,000,000	$ 50,000,000	$ 10,000,000			$ 25,000,000			135,000,000	110,000,000	$ 135,000,000
Cleco Power [Member] | Cleco Group [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent														0
Distributions to member/parent														$ 135,000,000	$ 110,000,000	135,000,000
Cleco Power [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Ratio of total indebtedness to total capitalization (in hundredths)		0.65												0.65
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Predecessor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates										$ 0						0
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates										25,325,000						135,850,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Predecessor [Member] | Cleco Power [Member]
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates										25,000,000						135,000,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Predecessor [Member] | Perryville [Member]
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates										200,000						500,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Predecessor [Member] | Attala [Member]
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates										$ 125,000						$ 350,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Successor [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates														$ 0
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates													$ 85,250,000	149,010,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Successor [Member] | Cleco Power [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates													50,000,000
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates													85,000,000	135,000,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Successor [Member] | Perryville [Member]
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates													150,000	6,850,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Successor [Member] | Attala [Member]
Distributions from affiliates [Abstract]
Cash distributions received from affiliates													100,000	7,160,000
Cleco Holdings [Member] | Successor [Member] | Cleco Group [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent													100,700,000	0
Distributions to member/parent													$ 88,800,000	$ 84,100,000