Cash Contributions Received from Limited Liability Company (LLC) Member

No definition available.

Name:	cnl_ContributionsReceivedfromLimitedLiabilityCompanyLLCMemberCashContributionsReceived
Namespace Prefix:	cnl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Equity contributions made to affiliates during the period by the parent company.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cnl_ContributionsToAffiliates
Namespace Prefix:	cnl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
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

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents disclosure of the aggregate cash dividends paid to the entity by consolidated subsidiaries.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-04(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120395691&loc=d3e24072-122690

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount of cash distribution paid to unit-holder of limited liability company (LLC).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120397183&loc=d3e187085-122770

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Indebtedness divided by net capital.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=cnl_ClecoPowerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=us-gaap_PrincipalOwnerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ConsolidatedEntitiesAxis=srt_ParentCompanyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=cnl_ClecoPowerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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- Details

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Balance Type:
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=us-gaap_LimitedLiabilityCompanyMember
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Schedule I Financial Statements of Cleco Holdings (Parent Company Only) - Cash Distributions and Equity Contributions (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2021 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($)	May 21, 2021	May 15, 2020
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent			$ 384,900,000
CLECO POWER
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions from member			20,000,000
CLECO POWER \| Cleco Holdings
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contribution from member/parent	$ 0	$ 0	0
Contributions from member	$ 0	0	20,000,000
CLECO POWER \| MAXIMUM
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Ratio of total indebtedness to total capitalization	0.650				0.650
Parent Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Ratio of total indebtedness to total capitalization				0.650
Cash distributions received from affiliates	$ 111,000,000	134,000,000	225,000,000
Parent Company \| CLECO POWER
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates	0	0	20,000,000
Parent Company \| CLECO CAJUN
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash distributions received from affiliates	111,000,000	134,000,000	205,000,000
Parent Company \| Cleco Holdings
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates	0	0
Contribution from member/parent	0	0	384,900,000
Contributions from member	0	0	$ 0
Parent Company \| Limited Liability Company
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Contributions made to affiliates	$ 0	$ 962,200,000