Am I Nuts Still Wanting to Pay Quarterly for Energy?

Gerry1

You're OK sending monthly readings, so smart meters won't make any difference.  Although smart meter bills are supposed to be accurate (assuming you don't have a Rogue Meter, or one that's gone dumb, or one that can't phone home, or one where the energy company can't download the data etc, etc) with most companies it's still a case of do it their way (Fixed Direct Debit) or the highway.

However, some do offer Variable Monthly Direct Debit so that's what to go for.  Remember that separate suppliers are often cheaper than dual fuel.

If Ofgem were any good they'd have made VMDD the default option: it would have ended the widespread All You Can Eat confusion as well as discouraging the increasing numbers of Ponzi schemes, suppliers going bust and everyone having to subsidise the Suppliers of Last Resort.  Instead, they're proposing a much weaker scheme whereby suppliers should merely refund credit after the end of the year.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/03/energy-customers-in-credit-could-be-refunded-1-4bn/