Variable Interest Entities - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Equity investment in investee	$ 2,072	$ 2,072
CLECO POWER
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Equity investment in investee	$ 2,072	$ 2,072
CLECO POWER \| VIE, Not Primary Beneficiary - Oxbow
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Ownership percentage by Cleco Power	50.00%
SWEPCO \| VIE, Not Primary Beneficiary - Oxbow
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Ownership percentage by other parties	50.00%

Percentage of the Variable Interest Entity's (VIE) voting interest owned by other parties.

No definition available.

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- Definition

This item represents the carrying amount on the entity's balance sheet of its investment in common stock of an equity method investee. This is not an indicator of the fair value of the investment, rather it is the initial cost adjusted for the entity's share of earnings and losses of the investee, adjusted for any distributions (dividends) and other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109237563&loc=d3e33749-111570

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 25
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123359005&loc=d3e8813-108599

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.12)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- 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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- Definition

Percentage of the Variable Interest Entity's (VIE) voting interest owned by (or beneficial interest in) the reporting entity (directly or indirectly).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5A
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123419778&loc=SL6759159-111685

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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- Details

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