Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2025

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 10 — Income Taxes

Effective Tax Rates

The following tables summarize the effective income tax rates from continuing operations for Cleco and Cleco Power for the three months ended March 31, 2025, and 2024:

Cleco
	FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED MAR. 31,
	2025		2024
Effective tax rate	18.3	%	(73.1)	%

Cleco Power
	FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED MAR. 31,
	2025		2024
Effective tax rate	19.5	%	12.6	%

For Cleco and Cleco Power, the effective income tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2025, and 2024, were different than the federal statutory rate primarily due to the amortization of excess ADIT, the adjustment to record tax expense at the projected annual effective tax rate, flow through of state tax benefits, and state tax expense.

Tax Rate Changes

On December 4, 2024, the Louisiana state corporate income tax rate decreased from 7.5% to 5.5%, effective for the income tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025.

Uncertain Tax Positions

Cleco classifies all interest related to uncertain tax positions as a component of interest payable and interest expense. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, and 2024, Cleco and Cleco Power had no interest expense related to uncertain tax positions. At March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, Cleco and Cleco Power had no liability for uncertain tax positions or interest payable related to uncertain tax positions.

Income Tax Audits

Cleco Group participates in the IRS’s Compliance Assurance Process program in which tax positions are examined and agreed upon prior to filing the federal tax return. The Compliance Assurance Process program allows the IRS to establish a low risk of non-compliance, and at its discretion, may reduce the level of its review based on complexity and the number of issues found. Cleco Group's application has been accepted into the Compliance Assurance Process program for the 2021-2024 tax years and the statute of limitations remains open for those tax years.

Cleco records income tax penalties in Other Expense on its Condensed Consolidated Statement of Income. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, and 2024, no penalties were recognized.