Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. (Operator Instructions)
We'll take our first question from Tahira Afzal with KeyBanc.
Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc
Hi. Good morning, gentlemen.
Eric Pike
Hi, Tahira.
Anthony Slater
Hi.
Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc
I'm sorry, good afternoon, I'm sorry. Just a couple of questions of just -- basically more macro, in a sense. Could you talk about how much of the slowdown you're seeing is being offset by outsourcing trends, and whether you've seen any change in those outsourcing trends over the last six months?
Eric Pike
Tahira, I don't know that we've seen any of the outsourcing trend right now because, the overall basket of distribution work was just reduced during the last three, six, months. That has not stopped the aging of our customer's workforce. And we typically see a greater outsourcing percentage as that workload comes back. I think we're seeing indications of that from customers throughout our entire service territory that it looks like they are going to have far more robust spending cycles throughout the summer.
Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc
Got it. And then, could you talk a bit about what role Pike could possibly play if all this talk around smart grid is actually implemented on the distribution front?
Eric Pike
Well that's a piece that while we do not have a lot of diversified business lines as far as a presence in the wind or solar energy space, and not at today, a large piece of the transmission business. We do believe the smart grid technology is going to drive further investment in the distribution space. And that's an area that we feel like we'll certainly be the beneficiary of. We look at some of the smart grid metering projects, now.
We're talking with customers about how those will interact with our present workforce. As we see more, smart grid rollout from our customers I think a lot of that from what we gather today, is still in the planning stage outside of some metering. We believe there is going to certainly be more and more devices and hardware and pieces that will need to be placed on the distribution system. And it's certainly our intent to be in place to do that for them.
Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc
Okay, great. And do you expect this to be sort of a regional trend? And do you think there will be areas where the congestion is going to drive or the regulatory environment on a state level is more conducive for this going ahead a little faster. So if you look at your areas in Florida, Carolinas, Texas, Oklahoma, is it too early to gauge what areas would be doing this first?
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