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SAN FRANCISCO — The Public Utilities Commission has approved the use of state funds in the forming of a partnership to get California’s largest utility out of bankruptcy. 

The PUC decided Thursday to allow commission funds to pay expenses for global investment banking and capital markets firm UBS Warburg while it creates a plan to handle the bankruptcy finances of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

The PUC suggested in June that PG&E pay the firm’s fees — $3 million upon U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali’s approval and an additional $6 million if the firm arranged and obtained the state’s financing. But Montali ruled the utility was not liable for the expenses. 

It is uncertain what the partnership with UBS Warburg could cost, said Gary Cohen, general counsel for the PUC, although UBS Warburg gave a rough estimate of $100,000 to $200,000. He said the estimate is lower than the original fees assessed to PG&E because UBS Warburg is willing to take a chance the state’s plan will be approved and its out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed. 

Energy regulators hope that partnering the utility with UBS Warburg would boost support on Wall Street for its reorganization plan for PG&E. 

“They are crucial element in our ability to establish that our plan is feasible,” Cohen said. 

Montali will consider which reorganization plan to approve at a trial set to begin Nov. 12. 

If Montali approves the PUC’s plan, the regulators would rely on UBS Warburg to organize the sale of PG&E stock and arrange any additional financing the company would need to pay its $13.5 billion debt. 

Thousands of PG&E creditors currently are voting on a pair of plans for the utility’s future — the state’s plan and one by PG&E. Both sides claim the other’s plan is fatally flawed. The creditors must support or reject them by mid-August to help Montali determine which, if any, offers the best means by which they’ll be paid. 

PG&E, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2001, hopes to regain its good credit by transferring transmission lines, power plants and other assets away from state oversight and into three new companies that would be regulated by the federal government. Analysts say that would allow the utility to borrow more money to pay its debts, since it would escape state control over how much it can charge for electricity.