A method for detecting and reporting a power outage of a node, the method comprising: detecting, by a first node in a mesh network, that a power outage has occurred at the first node; determining, by the first node, that a predetermined period of time has passed since detecting the power outage and that power is not restored; wherein said method is characterized by: in response to determining that the predetermined period of time has passed and that the power is not restored, broadcasting, by the first node after waiting for a random offset period of time, a last gasp packet on the mesh network, wherein the last gasp packet is generated by the first node using a first packet format containing a smaller number of data units than a regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication; receiving, by a second node in the mesh network, the last gasp packet, wherein the second node is a neighboring node of the first node that is communicatively connected to the second node through the mesh network; determining, by the second node, an estimated time of the power outage based on a time of receiving the last gasp packet and on the predetermined period of time; generating, by the second node, an outage alarm message in the regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication based on the received last gasp packet and the estimated time of the power outage; and transmitting, by the second node, the outage alarm message to a headend system of the mesh network. detecting, by a first node in a mesh network, that a power outage has occurred at the first node; determining, by the first node, that a predetermined period of time has passed since detecting the power outage and that power is not restored; wherein said method is characterized by: in response to determining that the predetermined period of time has passed and that the power is not restored, broadcasting, by the first node after waiting for a random offset period of time, a last gasp packet on the mesh network, wherein the last gasp packet is generated by the first node using a first packet format containing a smaller number of data units than a regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication; receiving, by a second node in the mesh network, the last gasp packet, wherein the second node is a neighboring node of the first node that is communicatively connected to the second node through the mesh network; determining, by the second node, an estimated time of the power outage based on a time of receiving the last gasp packet and on the predetermined period of time; generating, by the second node, an outage alarm message in the regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication based on the received last gasp packet and the estimated time of the power outage; and transmitting, by the second node, the outage alarm message to a headend system of the mesh network. in response to determining that the predetermined period of time has passed and that the power is not restored, broadcasting, by the first node after waiting for a random offset period of time, a last gasp packet on the mesh network, wherein the last gasp packet is generated by the first node using a first packet format containing a smaller number of data units than a regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication; receiving, by a second node in the mesh network, the last gasp packet, wherein the second node is a neighboring node of the first node that is communicatively connected to the second node through the mesh network; determining, by the second node, an estimated time of the power outage based on a time of receiving the last gasp packet and on the predetermined period of time; generating, by the second node, an outage alarm message in the regular packet format used by the mesh network for communication based on the received last gasp packet and the estimated time of the power outage; and transmitting, by the second node, the outage alarm message to a headend system of the mesh network.