SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas and Electric, California's largest utility, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday despite months of efforts by state officials to bail out the cash-starved company.

        The 13 million people served by the utility probably will be among the least affected, since Chapter 11 allows companies to protect their assets from creditors and continue operating while they try to dig out of their financial problems.

        But lenders, bondholders and power generators may have to write off as losses billions of dollars advanced to the utility. And the company's financial reputation could be damaged for years, making it more difficult to raise money to upgrade transmission lines and plants.

        “The regulatory and political processes have failed us, and now we are turning to the court,” said Robert D. Glynn Jr., chairman of corporate parent PG&E Corp. “We expect the court will provide the venue needed to reach a solution, which thus far the state and the state's regulators have been unable to achieve.”

        Shares of PG&E Corp. fell more than 35 percent when they resumed trading on the New York Stock Exchange after being halted for more than 2 hours. Shares closed at $7.19, down $4.19. The first creditors meeting was scheduled for May 8.

        The utility provides natural gas and electric service across 70,000 square miles of northern and central California and has more than 20,00 employees.

        Like other California utilities, it has been pinched by skyrocketing wholesale power costs and the state's 1996 deregulation law barring rate increases.

        The preliminary bankruptcy filing lists debts as of early September, long before the wholesale prices rose and the company incurred its biggest debts. The utility's top creditor is listed as Bank of New York, which was owed $2.2 billion as of September.

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