How it started
History
Cleco's roots go back to the 1906 installation of a 25 kWh Corliss steam-driven generating plant in Bunkie, Louisiana.
In 1914, a 50 kWh diesel engine was added to the plant to produce ice and light; and in 1935, the Bunkie plant, called Louisiana Ice & Utilities, reorganized into Louisiana Ice & Electric Company.
Because ice was necessary long before electricity, ice manufacturing fostered the early development of the South's electric industry. Small steam or internal combustion electric motors powered the machinery that ran ice plants. Ice companies used power to light the plants and distributed excess energy to nearby homes and businesses. As demand increased, more facilities were needed to supply electricity and, eventually; manufacturing and delivering electricity became more important than making ice.
In 1945, the company changed its name to Central Louisiana Electric Company, Inc. (CLECO), and in 1998, to Cleco Corp. (Cleco).
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. Cleco shareholders and area business leaders spoke strongly in support of the purchase. On April 13, the company restructured and became known as Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC.
From Wikipedia’s article on CLECO, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3