It operates a regulated electric utility company, Cleco Power, that serves approximately 290,000 retail customers in Louisiana.

Cleco's roots go back to the 1906 installation of a 25 kWh Corliss steam-driven generating plant in Bunkie, Louisiana.

Small steam or internal combustion electric motors powered the machinery that ran ice plants.

On March 28, 2016, the Louisiana Public Service Commission in a 4–1 vote approved the sale of Cleco for $4.9 billion to a foreign purchasing group led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, John Hancock Financial, and other infrastructure investors.

In April of 2022, Cleco Power announced Project Diamond Vault, a new, state-of-the-art carbon capture facility to be located at the company’s Brame Energy Center.