Schedule I Financial Statements of Cleco Holdings (Parent Company Only) - Cash Distributions and Equity Contributions (Details)	3 Months Ended									9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Apr. 12, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Distributions to member	$ 10,850,000	$ 20,600,000	$ 20,400,000	$ 19,500,000	$ 110,000	$ 28,300,000	$ 26,700,000	$ 28,955,000
SUCCESSOR
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Distributions to member										$ 88,765,000		$ 71,350,000	$ 84,065,000
CLECO POWER
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent														$ 50,000,000
Distributions to member	$ 0	$ 50,400,000	$ 43,000,000	$ 28,000,000	$ 60,000,000	$ 15,000,000	$ 25,000,000	$ 35,000,000				121,400,000	135,000,000	110,000,000
CLECO POWER | Cleco Group
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent												0	0
Distributions to member												$ 121,400,000	135,000,000	$ 110,000,000
CLECO POWER | MAXIMUM
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Ratio of total indebtedness to total capitalization	0.65											0.65
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates											$ 85,250,000	$ 121,842,000	149,010,000
Contribution to subsidiary											50,000,000	1,250,000	0
Contributions made to affiliates												1,300,000
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR | CLECO POWER
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates											85,000,000	121,400,000	135,000,000
Contributions made to affiliates											50,000,000
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR | Perryville
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates											150,000	225,000	6,850,000
Contribution to subsidiary												1,800,000
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR | Attala
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates											100,000	217,000	7,160,000
Contribution to subsidiary												2,100,000
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR | Limited Liability Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates											0
Cleco Holdings | SUCCESSOR | Cleco Group
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent											100,700,000	0	0
Distributions to member											$ 88,800,000	$ 71,400,000	$ 84,100,000
Cleco Holdings | PREDECESSOR
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates									$ 25,325,000
Contribution to subsidiary									0
Cleco Holdings | PREDECESSOR | CLECO POWER
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates									25,000,000
Cleco Holdings | PREDECESSOR | Perryville
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates									200,000
Cleco Holdings | PREDECESSOR | Attala
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates									125,000
Cleco Holdings | PREDECESSOR | Limited Liability Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates									$ 0