Leases - Lease Income Under Cottonwood Sale Leaseback (Details) - Cleco Cajun $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)
Lessor, Lease, Description [Line Items]
Fixed payments	$ 6,667
Variable payments	3,151
Total lease income	$ 9,818

Amount of lease income from variable lease payments, interest income from net investment on sales-type lease, and profit (loss) recognized at commencement.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888421&loc=SL77919311-209978

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 270
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109225645&loc=SL77927221-108306

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888428&loc=SL77919372-209981

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