This article provides a survey on state estimation (SE) in electric power grids and examines the impact on SE of the technological changes being proposed as a part of the smart grid development. Although SE at the transmission level has a long history, further research and development of innovative SE schemes, including those for distribution systems, are needed to meet the new challenges presented by the requirements of the future grid. This article also presents some example topics that signal processing (SP) research can contribute to help meet those challenges.