SAN FRANCISCO -- Pacific Gas and Electric Co. ended three years of bankruptcy Monday, closing an abysmal chapter in California's debilitating power crisis.

The 99-year-old utility got back to business after distributing $10.2 billion to hundreds of creditors owed since PG&E went bankrupt on April 6, 2001, near the height of an electricity debacle marked by rolling blackouts and recurring episodes of market manipulation.

The fallout will dent power bills for years to come.

The rehabilitation is expected to cost PG&E's 4.8 million electricity customers $6.2 billion to $8.2 billion in above-market prices through 2012. That works out to an average of $1,300 to $1,700 per customer.

Although PG&E's bankruptcy is finally over, the threat of future power problems still loom over California.

Energy experts continue to worry that the state hasn't lined up adequate electricity supplies nor adopted the proper market controls to meet the state's rising power demands and prevent more outrageous pricing demands.

"I think we are more vulnerable than ever," California Public Utilities Commissioner Loretta Lynch said.

San Francisco-based PG&E began its bankruptcy odyssey with more than $12 billion in debt that piled up as the cost of wholesale electricity soared far beyond the retail prices established under new regulations introduced in 1998.

Sinking into bankruptcy triggered even more bills. PG&E's legal and professional expenses in the case totaled $412 million through December, the most recent accounting available. The utility also is responsible for $23.2 million in bills run up by the California Public Utilities Commission during the case.

The bankruptcy albatross also left an ugly stain on PG&E, said Lynn LoPucki, a UCLA law professor who followed the case. "It was an extremely embarrassing episode," he said. "The company's public image abruptly changed with the filing."

PG&E simply was looking out for its best interests, said Dan Richard, the company's senior vice president of public affairs. "I don't think we had any other choice," he said in an interview Monday. "Our company was being melted down" as its daily losses surpassed $10 million.

That trend began to reverse shortly after PG&E filed bankruptcy, as wholesale power prices began to plummet. Through February, the utility had earned $4.8 billion on revenue of $30.7 billion since the bankruptcy filing.

In an unusual twist, the bankruptcy paid off for the shareholders of PG&E's parent company. PG&E Corp.'s shares fell 45 cents Monday on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $29.43, nearly tripling their value of $11.38 on the eve of the bankruptcy filing.

The performance has outstripped the stock of another major California utility company, Edison International, which repaired the damage caused by the state's electricity crisis outside bankruptcy court. Edison's shares fell 57 cents Monday on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $23.43, nearly doubling from $12.64 just before PG&E's bankruptcy.

The bellwether Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has sustained a decline of less than 1 percent during the same period.

PG&E's stellar stock showing assured the bankruptcy would enrich the company's management. PG&E last year distributed $84 million in bonuses to 17 current and former executives for sticking through the tough times. PG&E Chairman Robert Glynn Jr. pocketed $17 million and Gordon Smith, who runs the utility, received $10 million.

The bankruptcy required PG&E shareholders to make some sacrifices. PG&E Corp. suspended its quarterly dividend at the end of 2000 and won't restore the payment until the second half of next year. The company estimates its shareholders will have relinquished about $1.7 billion in dividends through June of this year.

PG&E charges an average of 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour now compared with an average of 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour in April 2000, shortly before California's power problems began to financially drain the utility.

The average price for electricity nationally stood at 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour in December, according to the most recent statistics available from the U.S. Department of Energy.

PG&E blames most of its additional costs on long-term electricity contracts that California signed shortly after the utility went bankrupt.

Even so, many customers are taking out their frustration on PG&E, Richard acknowledged.

"A lot of customers are still angry about what happened," he said. "It will take a while to heal. I think we will always view (the bankruptcy) as a difficult and challenging time in our history."