The electric power industry expanded rapidly during the first two-thirds of the Twentieth Century. Increased industrial productivity and changed living standards were taken for granted almost as quickly as they were achieved. The public took even les interest in the power industry itself. The infamous blackout in the Northeast in the winter of 1965-al though merely a mechanical problem of great scope-was an omen. The industry was emerging from a time which has been called a "benign cycle"" of decreasing costs and lower prices.