To what extent do consumers benefit from price discrimination by a firm with monopoly power? (8 Marks)

Price discrimination occurs when a firm, with monopoly power, charges different prices to different people for the same product, due to reasons other than cost difference. It relies on various conditions being met such as monopoly power, different elasticities in each market and an ability to prevent seepage. It can be argued that some consumers will benefit from the relatively low prices offered by the discriminating monopolist in some markets. These relatively low prices might attract consumers to the product / service who might not have consumed it. An example could be the relatively low rail fares on off peak services which might encourage consumers to use train services. These consumers will have a greater amount of consumer surplus than the consumers using the peak time services with a relatively higher price.Another argument is the case of a monopoly price discriminator who does so in order to make provision of a service economically viable. In such a case any single price operation would only lead to loss making and consequently the removal of the service for all. Because of this, price discrimination benefits consumers as it makes available a good or service which otherwise would not be available to consume. On the other hand it can be argued that the monopoly supplier is simply separating the markets in order to reduce consumer surplus in all markets. In essence consumer surplus is converted into producer surplus. Compared to a competitive market all consumers may lose out due to the monopoly power. 
The extent to which the consumer benefits from price discrimination by a firm with monopoly power depends on the nature of the good or service. For example, It could be argued that the potential to increase the number of consumers able to afford passenger rail services is a more important consideration than any negative impact on consumer surplus. This is because, passenger rail services could be considered to be a service with positive externalities and would otherwise be underprovided.