Commentary: Why TVA is right to increase Ocoee rafting fees nearly 800 percent

The response was as strong and forceful as the current and noticeably early from the rafting community.

TVA is reportedly looking to raise its cut of every rafting ticket when the current deal between the federal group and Ocoee rafting businesses ends in a few years.

For the traditional Middle Ocoee ride, the early figures have the TVA looking at asking for $8.80 per ticket — up a seemingly large amount from the current $1 the TVA gets now. The increase would be from $4.50 to $10.69 for rides on the Upper Ocoee.

I don’t raft and I have nothing against those who do. It looks like a ton of fun, and I am glad we have the opportunity nearby and the potential tourist draw.

But if TVA says it costs the agency — and in turn, all ratepayers — when water is diverted from producing electricity to carrying rafters, how is that fair to the rest of us?

Again, I’m not a paddler and prefer to play golf when the time allows, but I am not asking John Q. TVA Customer to pick up any portion of my greens fees.

While the rate jumps seem high, let’s remember a couple of things. TVA has been charging only a dollar a person for almost 35 years. Do you think the ticket prices for rafting the river are the same as they were during Reagan’s first term?

No way. Tickets for solo riders range from the low $30s in bargain or group availabilities to normally around $50 per person.

Plus, while the $1-to-$8.80 transition is a face-value increase of 780 percent, if you factor in inflation — an early dollar is worth roughly $3 today, according to dollartracker.com — the increase is still steep but not as eye-popping.

That means the increase would be a little less than triple for the Middle Ocoee rides; the Upper Ocoee increase is still smaller than the inflation value for the original $4.50 charge.

And speaking of ticket prices, according to its website, High Country Adventures charges $48 per ticket plus a $4 river fee for Middle Ocoee rides and a $7 river fee for Upper Ocoee rides.

Those river fees could be used for any number of things, and all of them may be valid. But calling it a “river fee” — and we’re pretty sure High Country is not the only outfitter using that label — makes it feel like it’s a charge for the greatness of the river.

And you know who is responsible for the excellence and force of the rapids and the thrills on the Ocoee? Yep, a little downtown group with three letters, and it’s not EPB.

So for the entire industry to bemoan a fee increase when it appears that at least some of them are piggybacking on TVA’s current charge seems disingenuous at best.

To tell you the truth, all the swimsuit-wringing seems a little calculated.

First, the fee increases that have been floated aren’t official. As a TVA spokesman told this newspaper, this is not written in river stones yet.

Second, this is a negotiation that is years down the road. So if worse comes to worst and the TVA implements its full charge, nothing will change until 2019 and a whole lot of those “river fees” can be put aside for future payments to those who control the river.

Finally, and addressing the bigger picture, TVA has to balance its books just like the rafting outfitters have to manage theirs. We all complain about the federal government not living within its means, but no one wants those means to mean their interests.

TVA is a business and it has an obligation to its customers and its employees, too.

No one wants anyone in the rafting community to lose his job or her business. No one wants to eliminate the great addition that is whitewater rafting, especially on a place like the Ocoee, which has earned high marks and distinction as one of the country’s best locales for rafting.

One of the main reasons the Ocoee has received such high marks is because the river never slumps. There are next-to-no slow days or drought-forced slowdowns, and TVA’s water control is the reason the good times on the Ocoee never fail.

It’s fair for TVA to expect to be compensated for that.

Pass the expense on to the customer if need be.

They are the ones that are enjoying the ride, and certainly a ride as nice as the Ocoee is one worth paying for.

Jay Greeson’s column will appear on Page A2 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. His sports columns are scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays. You can read his online column the 5-at-10 Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.

Contact him at jgree son@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp.