The impending snowstorm is leading BGE to prepare for potential power outages by putting employees on standby for field and office assignments. Nearly all BGE employees, in addition to their regular work duties, have alternate assignments during a major incident that could involve disruption of service for Baltimore-area residents, according to Linda Foy, a BGE spokeswoman.

For instance, BGE workers who work in an office might be assigned to act as "patrollers" who drive into affected neighborhoods and do an early assessment of potential problems. If a problem is serious, they can request additional resources from the company, Foy said. Other assignments could include being assigned to help staff a call center to manage increases in customer service requests, she said.

"There's special training for storm assignments," said Foy. "Even engineers who work on the electrical distribution system can shift into a job to help address outages."

While all 3,000 employees can be put on standby, Foy said she didn't know how many might be called on to help out in the expected snowstorm, but it could be as high as several hundred.

"Depending on the severity of the storm, you may need to fill your storm position," Foy said about BGE workers.