You don't have to be a Palamist to agree to the essence-energy distinction either. But without the essence-energy distinction, hesychasm simply does not work, so if you believe that what the hesychasts see truly is the uncreated light and not a product of their imagination, then you must agree to the essence-energy distinction in some way or another.
But yeah, you don't need to be a Palamite to be in good standing with the Church. In fact, there are Orthodox Thomists too, although they are relatively few and far between nowadays.
I'll add that we're not autists about doctrine… What I mean by this, is that even if one rejects fully the essence-energy distinction, what matters first and foremost is that they focus on having a healthy life of prayer and charity. Similarly, there are Orthodox who are Origenists, or Orthodox who agree to John Bekkos's pneumatology. These are rather bizarre positions, but, a healthy Christian life takes priority over explaining the workings of God with surgical precision.